Speakers announced for TEDxIdahoStateUniversity, presentations scheduled for Oct. 26

The theme for TEDxISU is “2030: Where are we headed?” Selected speakers were asked to present their ideas in wide and diverse subjects

The speakers are: Adam Velasquez, Alex Bolinger, Cameron Staley, Evan Rodriguez, Kelly Lonergan, Liz Breuker, Olivia Ngadjui, Princess Young, Shannon Fox and Tori Force.

This event is by invitation only. Recorded videos will be uploaded to the official TEDx YouTube channel and to the official TEDx site. The event will also be live streamed at the Bengal Theater for free.

For more information about TEDx, visit www.ted.com.

The biographies of each of the speakers follow:

• Adam Velasquez – “Confidence comes from Failure” – Velasquez has lived in Pocatello his whole life. He graduated from Pocatello High School where he competed in wrestling, cross country and track. After completing a two-year service mission for his church in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Adam enrolled at ISU and was the first person in his family to earn a college degree. Velasquez has made a career in banking and is currently the vice president for executive banking at Zions Bank. He is also preparing to enter his 18th season as a state-certified high school wrestling official.

• Alex Bolinger – “‘Glue’ Roles in Organizations” – Bolinger, is an associate professor of management in the ISU College of Business. He completed his doctoral degree at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah and, prior to joining ISU, was on the faculty at Pennsylvania State University’s Brandywine campus. Bolinger’s research interests focus on groups and teams, negotiation, entrepreneurship and employment in service professions. His work has been published in the Harvard Business Review, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, and Small Group Research among other outlets.

• Cameron Staley – “Mindfulness: Pornography Addictions” – Staley is a clinical psychologist at ISU providing individual, couple and group therapy to university students. He enjoys teaching courses for the psychology department and supervising counselors and psychologists in training. He has presented his research on pornography at the International Academy of Sex Research and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, along with peer-reviewed publications in the journals of Socioaffective Neuroscience and Psychology, Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity and Archives of Sexual Behavior.

• Evan Rodriguez – “Today’s Technology” – Rodriguez is an assistant professor of philosophy at ISU. He received his doctorate from Yale’s Philosophy and Classics Program in 2016, after first falling in love with both subjects in the liberal arts context at Haverford College. His work uses philosophical and philological tools to help us understand ancient texts, to put them in conversation with modern problems and to put us in conversation with each other.

• Kelly Lonergan – “Designing for the Good of Humanity” – Lonergan is a graphic designer residing in the Pacific Northwest. A lover of all things design, illustration, and pattern, she graduated from James Madison University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design in December 2010. Following graduation, she spent three years working as a designer full time in the architecture and marketing industry in Washington D.C. In Fall 2013 she entered the Master of Fine Arts degree graphic design program at Savannah College of Art and Design and then spent three years teaching at the university level. She is currently an art director in the Seattle area. 

• Liz Breuker – “Normalization of Violence” – Breuker is an Army veteran, McNair Scholar and student government senator for the ISU College of Education. She is majoring in outdoor education and intends to pursue a Master in Public Administration degree researching public lands policy. Currently, Breuker is researching the effects of outdoor recreation in the LGBTQ+ community.  In her free time, she can be found recreating outdoors with her husband, Eric, and their three children.  

• Olivia Ngadjui – “Making Friends After High School” – Ngadjui is a second-year doctoral student in the ISU counselor education and counseling program. Her research interests include cultural inclusion efforts in education for K-12 and counselor education, crisis and trauma interventions, multicultural counseling and social justice. Among many roles, she highly values her role as an advocate whether in session, the classroom or in her daily life as she values being able to speak up to promote an equitable environment. Ngadjui is an avid reader, who currently hikes in the Idaho outdoors, frequently lifts at the gym, seeks out places to have tea, cares for four indoor plants and somehow finds time to keep tabs on her five godchildren (four girls and a boy) who are on the East Coast.  

• Princess Young – “Cyber Security” - Young is a 2012 and 2014 ISU alumna. She received her honors bachelor degree in business management and her Master of Business Administration degree in information assurance. Young is currently a senior analyst for Southwest Airlines and leads the company's cybersecurity awareness and training program. She previously worked for the Department of Homeland Security managing national cyber awareness efforts for nearly five years. She is passionate about education and helping others. In October, she will also become a Gallup-certified strengths coach. She loves movies, writing music, volunteering and French fries. She lives in Dallas, Texas, with her husband Devin Hansen, who is also an ISU graduate.

• Shannon Fox – “Adverse Childhood Experiences” – Fox is a social worker who works towards preventing child abuse and trauma. Prevention has opened up doors for Fox to do something she loves while also recovering from her own adversity. Fox currently is  an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer. She is working to build and expand this program so she can continue working towards helping children live without fear or trauma and help adults learn from adversities they have experienced.

• Tori Force – “Lack of Mental Health Services in Idaho” – Force is a Pocatello native who works with low income children and teens as an art therapist at a community mental health organization in Seattle. She graduated from Lesley University in Boston, Massachusetts, with a Master of Arts Degree in mental health counseling and art therapy. She is excited to return to the Stephen's Performing Arts Center to deliver this talk as she has previously performed there, worked in the Box Office and even got married in the building’s Marshall Rotunda. In her free time, Force likes to crochet, knit, sing, spend time with her two cats Freddie and Rosa and enjoy a tasty meal cooked by her husband, Kirk. You can also find her painting or hiking on some of the many beautiful trails of the Pacific Northwest. Force believes Pocatello is a special place and she feels honored to be able to return to give a TEDx talk in a community that has always supported her in fulfilling her aspirations.

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, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. 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.

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