WINGATE — TEDxWingate, set for Wednesday at the University’s George A. Batte, Jr. Fine Arts Center, will feature talks from nine local experts lifting up “The Extraordinary Ordinary.” The independently organized event, licensed by TED, will run from 9 a.m. to noon inside McGee Theatre.
TED is a nonprofit organization that started as a four-day Technology, Entertainment and Design conference in California nearly 30 years ago. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes on a diverse mix of topics. Launched in 2009, TEDx supports local, self-organized TED-style events designed to help innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.
The goals of TEDxWingate are to foster a culture of curiosity in the University, to highlight and celebrate the expertise of community members and to create a dialogue of big ideas across disciplines, silos and fields of expertise and experience.
“We want to celebrate curiosity and highlight the extraordinary expertise and lived experiences of our faculty and former students,” says Dr. Terese Lund, an associate professor of psychology and the university’s director of undergraduate research, who is organizing the TEDx event. “Our speakers will invite their audience to reconsider the ‘ordinary’ by illuminating hidden inspiration, untold stories, and invisible insights in our everyday experience. They will challenge conventional thinking and reexamine the possibilities of our world.”
Speakers at TEDxWingate
Alison Brown – A professor of biology, Dr. Brown is in her 21st year as a faculty member at Wingate. She has received Wingate’s Spivey Research Instructionship Award, the Outstanding Advisor of the Year Award and the Unsung Hero Award. The Phi Eta Sigma Honors Society named her Faculty Member of the Year, and she has been recognized by Who’s Who Among American Teachers.
Garrett Hollifield – Following his undergraduate studies at Wingate, Hollifield earned his law degree at Appalachian School of Law in Virginia. He was admitted to the North Carolina Bar in 2008, where he has worked in the areas of estate planning and probate and currently serves as the managing partner of the Hollifield Law Firm, PLLC and as the public guardian for McDowell County.
Suzie Wolf – Dr. Wolf is the founding director of the University’s department of public health. She is physician assistant and an associate professor with experience as a clinician, faculty member, and a public health professional. A strong advocate of community health, her area of concentration is the intersection between public policy and health outcomes.
Catherine Wright – The executive director of Wingate’s Collaborative for the Common Good and an associate professor of religion, Dr. Wright is an eco-theologian. She has been recognized among North’s Carolina’s top 50 women leaders, and her research was named one of 28 Campus Sustainability Award finalists by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
Eddie Case – Dr. Case is an associate professor of education and director of Wingate’s first-year seminar. He teaches integrated sciences and has completed a graduate certificate program in Sexuality, Gender and Women’s Studies from UNC Charlotte.
Jonathan Bradshaw – An alumnus of Wingate’s MBA program, Bradshaw is a merchant for Rack Room Shoes in Charlotte, where he manages the men’s athletic category. He brings automotive, retail and entrepreneurial knowledge from his own start-up, CarBuyCo, which he co-founded after a decade at CarMax.
Junior Nyemb – Nyemb is an entrepreneur, brand strategist, writer and speaker from Cameroon. After earning three degrees from Wingate and working in the University’s marketing office, he started a brand consultancy called Grio, where he serves as chief empathy officer, championing the causes of companies and organizations on a mission to improve the human condition.
Laura Stinson – Stinson is a Wingate alumna and a disabled artist and disability advocate from Charlotte. She runs her own small business, FairyNerdy, where she sells products featuring her original artwork and designs.
Mitchell Mackinem – Dr. Mackinem is the chair of Wingate’s criminal justice and sociology department and a widely published researcher whose interests range from drug courts and restorative justice to the role of religion in moderating alcohol use and the changing face of higher education.
James Fisher-Davis – Fisher-Davis is founder and senior associate at Equilibrium Up & Associates, a consulting group providing character building, leadership development and impactful decision-making skills education and training to government, law enforcement, community, business and academic entities. He is an adjunct faculty member at Wingate.
While Wednesday’s TEDxWingate event is not open to the public, the event will be livestreamed on Youtube, at this link: https://youtube.com/live/c-ZijA3v88M?feature=share
