Speakers announced for TEDxUW-GreenBay 2019 Event at the Weidner Center, October 24, 2019
Tickets on sale Monday, Sept. 16, 2019 at 11 a.m.
Green Bay, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is bringing its independently organized TEDx series titled TEDxUW-GreenBay to the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Howard Hall on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale Monday, Sept. 16, 2018 at 11a.m. and are available at WeidnerCenter.com and by phone at 800-895-0071. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the Ticket Star Box Office at the Resch Center or at the University Ticketing and Information Center.
“TEDxUW-GreenBay affords the opportunity of using a global platform to share ideas that resonate in our community,” says Kelli Strickland, executive artistic director for the Weidner Center and co-organizer of TEDxUW-GreenBay. “Our six speakers represent six different arenas of experience and expertise but are speaking to ideas and issues that are important to Northeast Wisconsin and beyond.” The speakers featured at this year’s TEDxUW-GreenBay event are:
Dennis Buehler became president and CEO of the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation in 2017 following 25 years of work in the nonprofit sector. Many of these years were spent as executive director for prominent cultural organizations such as the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, Milwaukee Ballet and Oregon Ballet Theatre. His leadership also extended to the boards of community, cultural and educational institutions across the United States. In 2005, the Milwaukee Business Journal recognized him as one of its Forty under Forty awardees, along with honoring his work in their inaugural Power Book of top Milwaukee business executives in 2009. He currently serves on the board of Achieve Brown County and POINT for the Basic Needs Giving Partnership. Mr. Buehler’s volunteer work includes the Greater Green Bay Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force and a local no-kill animal shelter. He has also spoken on the regional impact of collaborative work at local, state and national conferences. Mr. Buehler is a graduate of Green Bay Southwest High School and UW-Milwaukee where he graduated with high honors in 1993. He lives in Ashwaubenon, Wis. with his wife Treena, an independent artist, and their two daughters Sophia and Audrey.
Ren
ita Robinson is currently the CEO of the YWCA Greater Green Bay. Formerly licensed as a graduate social worker (LGSW), and 6-12th grade English and social studies teacher, Renita was honored as Co-Teacher of the Year by the Boston Anti-Defamation League in 1997, has lead organizations and university departments, been an adjunct instructor, and been a senior grant specialist for the State of Minnesota. Since 1998, Renita has developed curriculum, designed conferences and programs and conducted workshops addressing a wide range of audiences as the owner/trainer of Teach ‘Em To Fish, LLC. She has completed all course work for a doctorate in teaching and learning at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Prior to this season in her life, she was a highly accomplished and decorated student-athlete at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, NE. (i.e. Dean’s List, All Big-8 Student Athlete, NCAA National Champion in the women’s triple jump in 1989, winner of the 1988 Olympic Trials Exhibition, and formerly ranked 26th in the world in the women’s triple jump).
Siobhan Marks’ Anishinaabe name is Zeegwan Noodenese which means the warm breeze of spring. She is Miigizi (Eagle) Clan and a descendant of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin and Cree, which she can trace back to the 1700’s. Her mother was Ojibwe and Irish, hence her Gaelic name “Siobhan.” She is a second-degree Midewiwin of the Three Fires Midewiwin Lodge in Bad River, Wisconsin and passionate about Anishinaabe culture and language, with an emphasis on the original dress of Woodland women. Over the past 11 years, she has studied historical pieces and has made a number of traditional dresses that she calls “Our Grandmothers Dress,” representing the historical eras this important dress was worn: Pre/Early Contact Era, Fur Trade Era and Reservation Era, as well as contemporary adaptations. She has shared the story of Our Grandmothers Dress and how to make them with women in tribal communities throughout the U.S. and Canada, and has presented at conferences, universities and museums, including the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and the British Museum in London. She began this work of reclaiming Our Grandmothers Dress with her Uncle, Neil Oppendike, who walked on only a few months ago. She dedicates her work to him because he was her teacher, mentor, and a master beadworker of 67 years who lovingly and patiently shared his knowledge with her.
Vicki Medland is the associate director of UW-Green Bay’s Cofrin Center for Biodiversity where she also teaches courses in biology, environmental science, urban agriculture, and scientific writing, including co-teaching a travel course in conservation biology at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. She has a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Georgia. Her research projects have included aquatic ecology, natural and agricultural biodiversity, and the evolutionary biology of crustaceans inhabiting temporary ponds. She is especially interested in helping people understand, appreciate, and value biodiversity and the natural world around them, and has been presenting talks, workshops, and writing about these topics for more than 20 years.
Andrew Becker is from the small town of Slinger, Wisconsin and completed his bachelor’s degree in human biology with an emphasis in dietetics from UW-Green Bay. He is completing his Ph.D. in biochemistry in Dr. Jong-In Park’s lab at the Medical College of Wisconsin. The focus of his research is to investigate how certain types of cancers utilize the ERK1/2 signaling pathway to promote their proliferation. Along with his research, Becker has an immense passion for nutrition. He believes it is important for everyone to understand how the foods they eat affect their health. He has made it a life-long goal to continuously teach the public about nutritional health whenever he gets the opportunity.
Jessica Lyn Van Slooten grew up on a farm in Western Michigan and spent summers picking blueberries and reading voraciously. She now lives on the other side of Lake Michigan in Manitowoc, Wis. where she is an associate professor of English, Writing and Women’s and Gender Studies at UW-Green Bay. She teaches courses on women writers, gender and popular culture, romance writing, and more. Jessica has published numerous articles on teaching and assessing gender studies courses, and popular romance fiction and film. She is currently drafting a romance novel set in a small midwestern town.
Along with the six speakers, the TEDxUW-GreenBay team also includes five coaches that help shape each discussion to fit TEDx standards. This year’s coaches include Danielle Bina and Shauna Froelich, two lecturers of Communication at UW-Green Bay. Also working as TEDx coaches are; Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Chuck Rybak, Associate Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Ryan Martin, and Professor of English, Jennie Young.
The co-organizers for the TEDxUW-GreenBay series are; UW-Green Bay Associate Professor and Chair of the Political Science Department, Aaron Weinschenk; Executive and Artistic Director of the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts, Kelli Strickland and Ellen Rosewall, professor and chair of UW-Green Bay’s Arts Management program.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Sep 16 at 11:00 a.m. online at WeidnerCenter.com by calling 800-895-0071 and in person at Ticket Star locations.
About the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts
UW-Green Bay’s Weidner Center for the Performing Arts is known for its elegant design and the acoustic excellence of its 2,000-seat main hall, Cofrin Family Hall. It also houses two smaller performance spaces, Fort Howard Hall and the Jean Weidner Theatre, along with the Grand Foyer and a dance studio. The Weidner Center has a distinct benefit in being part of a leading institution of higher learning. The Center is home for UW-Green Bay Music and Theatre and Dance programs, community events, and performances by visiting artists and touring companies. Beyond the national touring productions that grace the stage, the Weidner Center also focuses on scholastic development with an impactful education series — Stage Doors. For more information visit www.WeidnerCenter.com, call 920-465-2726 or 800-895-0071, or follow ‘Weidner Center for the Performing Arts’ on Facebook, Twitter (@WeidnerCenter) and Instagram (@weidnercenter).
About the University of Wisconsin Green Bay
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is a comprehensive public institution offering undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs to more than 8,000 students with campus locations in Green Bay, Marinette, Manitowoc and Sheboygan. Established in 1965 on the border of Green Bay, the University and its campuses are centers of cultural enrichment, innovation and learning. The Green Bay campus is home to one of the Midwest’s most prolific performing arts centers, a nationally recognized 4,000-seat student recreation center, an award-winning nine-hole golf course and a five-mile recreational trail and arboretum, which is free and open to the public. This four-campus University transforms lives and communities through student-focused teaching and research, innovative learning opportunities, powerful connections and a problem-solving approach to education. UW-Green Bay’s main campus is centrally located, close to both the Door County resort area and the dynamic economies of Northeast Wisconsin, the Fox Valley region and the I-43 corridor. UW-Green Bay offers in-demand programs in science, engineering and technology; business; health, education and social welfare; and arts, humanities and social sciences. For more information, visit www.uwgb.edu.
About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)
About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, often in the form of short talks delivered by leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED conferences, including our annual gathering in Vancouver, as well as TEDWomen, intimate TED Salons and thousands of independently organized TEDx events around the world. Videos of these talks are made available, free, on TED.com and other platforms. Audio versions of the talks from TED2019 will also be published to TED’s podcast TED Talks Daily, available on Apple Podcasts and all other podcast platforms.
TED’s open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; TEDx, which licenses thousands of individuals and groups to host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities; the Audacious Project, which surfaces and funds critical ideas that have the potential to impact millions of lives; TEDSummit, which gathers the most engaged members of the global TED community for brainstorms, discussions, performances, workshops and an eclectic program of mainstage talks; and the educational initiative TED-Ed. TED also has a library of original podcasts, including The TED Interview with Chris Anderson, Sincerely, X, and one of Apple Podcasts’ most downloaded new shows of 2018, WorkLife with Adam Grant
Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED, on Instagram at https://instagram.com/ted and on Snapchat at tedtalkshq.
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