Bradley University will bring together a group of speakers next week to discuss approaches for seeking innovative solutions to social challenges for a TEDx program.
The two-hour event on Wednesday will be Bradley’s second TEDx discussion, with this year’s theme being, “Advancing Societal Priorities.”
“We felt like this was something which people who are going to be interested in, given the times we live in,” said Bradley professor Kris Maillacheruvu, one of the event’s organizers. “So the focus more this year is on societal priorities and health care, and what we can do and what we can learn from these experts in terms of how to live better lives and be a more tight knit community.”
Launched in 2009 and licensed by TED, the independently organized TEDx programs bring local voices together with the community.
“TED started, actually now, maybe 15-20 years ago on discovery, innovation and ideas, and the idea that ideas can change the world,” said Bradley professor Joshua Lewer, another co-organizer. “These TED Talks, if you've seen them, they're very impactful, concise — information right there. So that's what we try to do with our group.”
Maillacheruvu said Bradley began the process to bring TEDx talks to the university about two years ago. The themes for last year’s inaugural event were centered on discovery and value creation.
“Once we had those six speakers done, we sent them over to TEDx, and they said, ‘the speakers sounded really good,’ so all six of them got posted on YouTube,” he said. “That was something which we felt very good about, and we wanted to make this a tradition at Bradley University.”
Among the seven speakers for Wednesday’s program is Bradley University President James Shadid; OSF HealthCare Chief Strategy Officer Emily Shields; University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria [UICOMP] regional dean Meenakshy Aiyer; and Brad McMillan, the executive director of the Institute for Principles Leadership in Public Service and Bradley’s Master’s coordinator in Nonprofit Leadership.
“They’re experts on their subject matter,” said Lewer. “We work with them, we spend several sessions with them. The speakers provide us with scripts and we review the scripts. They talk to us a little bit about what their objectives are, and we help them with, ‘what statement can you say maybe slightly differently that can make the most impact?’”
The other schedules speakers are Bradley professor Patricia Saleeby, program director of social work; Andy Gerhart from Lawrence Technological University; and cybersecurity professional Sudesh Kannan, an author and adjunct professor from the University of Maryland Global Campus.
“The speakers are just phenomenal, and you’ll see that — in 10 to 12 minutes they'll grab your attention and show you some ideas,” said Maillacheruvu. “You leave with ideas, and you also leave with a sense of understanding what those what to do about those societal priorities, and how to make those changes within yourself as an individual so that you can be a better part of the whole community.”
The event will be held 5-7 p.m. Wednesday at Bradley Hall, and is open to the public. Tickets are available through the Bradley University website.
“You never know what you're going to learn, and they’re so much better to be there in person with the speaker who's a subject matter expert and you can come talk to them afterward,” said Lewer. “I talked to someone at the end of the TED talks last time, they're like, ‘Hey, I don't stay awake for my sermons, but I stayed awake for two hours.' This was great.’”
