TEDxMeredithCollege 2013 Speakers
Dr. Janice Swab
Speaker
Although she retired from higher education in 2008, Dr. Swab continues to teach–such is the life of an educator. Trained in biology, more specifically botany, she developed an interest in environmental issues because she could not continue teaching biology without keeping these connections uppermost in an increasingly problem-fraught world. From 1980 on, she taught environmental biology at some level and have been active in the sustainability conversation. Her greatest pleasure is to travel and experience plants in their natural environments. To this end, she has visited every continent and have taught, worked, or studied in a number of countries.
Dr. Rebecca Duncan
Speaker
An Ohio native, Dr. Duncan teaches British literature and professional writing at Meredith College. She has studied in Brazil, taught in Bolivia, and lived in six of the United States. Her research interests range from Virginia Woolf to digital identity and culture.
Holly Mills and Paula Meredith
Speaker
Paula Meredith: I’m a current undergrad at Meredith College studying Food and Nutrition and Environmental Sustainability. I am passionate about food and want to influence change in the way we produce, distribute and consume it.
Holly Mills: I am a passionate woman with great hope for the future of our society! I am twenty years old and a North Carolina native. I am deeply interested in food and justice issues as well as sustainable food systems. My interest in food justice arose after working with several community gardens and taking classes at Meredith about social inequalities. After living in both Mexico and Italy, I have observed beautiful differences in lifestyles abroad. I’m hopeful that those experiences can help us better define sustainability from a global perspective.
Shanna Scott & Victoria Greenleaf
Speaker
Shanna Scott: I am 18 years old. I was born in Massachusetts and moved down here when I was very young. From there on I moved to Wisconsin back to here. I finished my high school education down here and came to Meredith College. One of the goals that I want to accomplish is to have a major in Interior Design with a minor in Fashion.
Victoria Greenleaf: I am 19 years old. I was born in Pennsylvania and moved down here five years ago. One of my goals in life is to become an elementary school teacher. I came to Meredith College to reach that goal.
Amy Hruby
Speaker | Website
My name is Amy Hruby. I’m a senior at Meredith College studying English and Ethics.
Erin Wilson
Speaker | Linkedin Profile
I am a Junior at Meredith College with a Psychology major and a K-6 licensure. I am a member of both Psy Chi and Alpha Lambda delta. I am also a Student advisor, Teaching Fellow, and a MCAN scholar. I am local to the area growing up in Cary. On the weekends and during breaks I work as a one-on-one trainer for a child with Autism. I aspire to go to graduate school upon graduating from Meredith and become a Special Education teacher.
Dr. Margarita Suarez
Speaker
Currently an Associate Professor in the program of Religious & Ethical Studies, I began at Meredith in August 2001. Prior to then I spent one year as a Riley Dissertation Fellow at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. I have a PhD in Contemporary Christian Thought from Northwestern University, an M.Div from Harvard University and a B.A. in Theatre and Religion from Fordham University at Lincoln Center in NYC. My research specialties are religion in Cuba and the importance of pedagogy and assessment in the use of field work for the study of religion. My academic focus is Religion & Culture with an emphasis on Global Christian Cultures and liberation theologies.
Mark Delgado
Speaker | Linkedin Profile
Mark currently goes to school at NC State University and studies nuclear engineering. In his Sophomore year, he decided he was going to start a company and built an ionization chamber in his dorm room. After two years of hard work they have finally developed a beta product and turned the college startup into a revenue-generating business. video!
Kristy Pickurel
Speaker | Linkedin Profile
Kristy Pickurel has served in non-profit management for more than 10 years. She is currently the Director of Development and Communications for the Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF). Since joining EREF, she has planned and executed record-breaking fundraising events as well as tripled the foundation’s communications efforts. An honors graduate of Elon University, Kristy has held positions with the Financial Planning Association (FPA) of the Triangle, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), Society of American Florists (SAF) and the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM). Kristy is a member of the Environmental Industry Associations Women’s Council and Association of Fundraising Professionals. She is also a Team Captain with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and room parent with Swift Creek Elementary School. She lives in Cary, NC with her husband and two sons.
Heather Troutman
Speaker | Linkedin Profile
I am a student ambassador and junior in the Environmental Science Academic Program at North Carolina State University, an officer of the Wolfpack Environmental Student Association, a columnist for the school paper, Technician, founder of Plastic Propaganda, and a social entrepreneur on the rise, among other things. I work as a social media consultant for the Waste Reduction and Recycling department on campus and coordinate campus sustainability initiatives with the Sustainability department. Plastic Propaganda has been nominated for a campus-wide Think Outside the Brick grant and an ACC-wide Prize for Innovation grant.
Lindsay Zanno
Speaker | Website
Dr. Lindsay Zanno is a vertebrate paleontologist who studies the anatomy, phylogeny, and paleoecology of theropod dinosaurs—a group that includes the iconic T. rex as well as living birds. Although the group is largely known for its fearsome predators, Dr. Zanno’s research documents the effects of plant eating in the feathered lineage leading to birds. Her field program tackles biodiversity patterns and extinction in ancient terrestrial ecosystems, with a current focus on Cretaceous rocks of the southwestern USA. Zanno currently serves as Director of the Paleontology and Geology Research Lab at the NCMNS and Research Assistant Professor of Biology at NCSU.
Keval Mehta/h6>
Speaker
From the Duke Fuqua website; “Keval has been credited with creating products like GotoAID, a first aid and disaster preparedness system and now INRFOOD a revolutionary means to identifying the ingredients in food and the corresponding health effects of those ingredients. Three times a year you will find Keval volunteering in developing countries; working with the local governments and charity organizations to educate locals about improving their health conditions. With the new technological innovations coming from Jaargon, the sky is the limit on how people will be able to monitor their health in real time.” (http://www.dukehsmevents.com/conference/panel-speaker/keval-mehta.html)
Michelle Harrell
Speaker | LinkedIn Profile
Michelle H. Harrell is the Coordinator of Teen and College Programs at the NC Museum of Art. She received her Associate of Arts degree from Peace College and her BFA and MAEd from East Carolina University. After 13 years of teaching middle and high school art, she began a position in 2010 to develop teen and college programs at the NCMA. In her role as project manager for this grant-funded project to create online courses, Michelle continues to explore topics related to her Master’s thesis: Interactive Technology as a Tool for Student Centered Learning in the Art Classroom.
Dr. Cynthia Edwards, Ashley Hall, and Chelsea Wettroth
Speaker
Dr. Cindy Edwards enjoys diverse research interests including the history of psychology and the role of peer social networks in the development of girls and women. Dr. Edwards’ current project is a ten-year longitudinal study of cognitive-social networks and the development of leadership and self-efficacy among young women. She has co-authored a reader in the history of psychology, published in Developmental Psychology and presented at numerous national and regional conferences. Dr. Edwards enjoys working collaboratively with Meredith students in the development of research projects. It is from one such collaboration that the concept for this TEDx talk emerged.
Ashley Hall is a rising a non-traditional sophomore majoring in Psychology and Religious Ethics. Career-wise, I plan to be a child psychologist specializing in children with learning disabilities and mental illness, My hobbies include Reading and writing, music, cooking and anime.
Chelsea Wettroth is a senior psychology major with a minor in mathematics. She is interested in ergonomics and human factors psychology, making environments and products more accessible for individuals, specifically those with debilitating physical and mental disabilities. In addition to her degree, she is also an avid dancer, a member of Meredith Dance Theater, a ukulele player, and a photographer by hobby. She is waiting to hear back from several graduate schools country-wide for human factors psychology.