Students Will Host Second Annual TEDxLaf Conference Focusing on Global Citizenship

The College’s TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Club is hosting a day of networking and dialogue around the theme “redefining we.”

The conference, TEDxLaf, is put together entirely by students of various majors, interests, and backgrounds. A platform where members of the Lafayette community can share their passions and ideas, it will take place 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, March 3, in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights room 104.

Watch live streaming video of the conference on the TEDxLaf website

“We live in a world that is increasingly connected and integrated. We have seen how misunderstanding, egocentrism, nationalism, and the survival philosophy based on self-interest can lead to hatred, conflict, and harm in the past,” says organizer Yue “Luna” Yuan ’12 (Wuhan, China), a double major in mechanical engineering and policy studies. “We are a generation grown up in an unprecedented time in human history marked by both tremendous opportunities and great challenges. This requires us to be active citizens who are open, understanding, empathetic, and socially and environmentally responsible. Global citizenship is not just the theme of our conference, it is the theme of our generation.”

The conference’s speakers will cover topics ranging from economic development to freedom of expression to the global workplace. Confirmed speakers and performers include:

• Anthony Badillo ’07, former financial analyst at Merrill Lynch and a future teacher through Teach For America;
• Arthur Chandler, director of Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson, N.Y.;
• Austin Dacey, a philosopher, author, and human rights activist;
• Iranian electronic rock band the Casualty Process;
• Christopher Caine ’78, president and CEO of Mercator XXI;
• Lafayette’s Precision Step Team;
• Thomas Loughlin ’83, executive director of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers;
• Niccole Rivero ’12, an international affairs major and president of Lafayette’s Amnesty International chapter;
• Laura Sicola, founder of the Sicola Consulting linguistic and cross-cultural training firm;
• Michael Whitman ’82, founder and CEO of Micro Interventional Devices.

The event is sponsored by the Alumni Association, the biology department, the Division of Campus Life, French Club, the international affairs program, Lafayette Intercultural Network Council, the Office of the President, Reeder House, the Office of Religious Life, and the women’s and gender studies program.

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading.” Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown into multiple initiatives including the annual TED conference; the establishment of the annual TED Prize and the TEDFellows program; and TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world, such as TEDxLaf.