Media Contact: Susan Cipollaro, scipollaro@fairfield.edu, 203-254-4000 x2726

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (October 21, 2019) — The  acronym TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design — the three topics that combined in 1984 to form the first TED Talk in Monterey, Calif. Today, the nonprofit TED organization successfully accomplishes its expanded mission to share “ideas worth spreading,” not only through the renowned annual TED Talk conference, but also through TEDx, a program launched in 2009 as a way for local communities around the globe to share big, TED-worthy ideas on a smaller, more intimate scale.

Designed to showcase the innovative and inspiring ideas of the Fairfield University community both on campus and beyond, TEDxFairfieldUniversity on October 28 will feature a diverse lineup of forward-thinking speakers that includes a current student, an alumna, an honorary degree recipient, and a faculty member, as well as leaders in health care, education, business, and technology.

Doors will open at 2 p.m. and the program of short but powerful presentations will begin at 2:30 p.m. in the Wien Experimental Theatre of the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. While TEDx audiences are capped at 100 to promote an intimate live experience, overflow attendees will be invited to watch the presentations via livestream in the adjacent Kelley Theatre. Admission is free and open to the public, but registration at fairfield.edu/tedxfairfieldrsvp is requested. A reception in the Quick Center lobby will follow.

To celebrate the 25^th anniversary of Fairfield University’s School of Engineering, Dean Richard Heist, PhD, said organizers of the TEDxFairfieldUniversity event chose the theme of  “Innovation and Inspiration” because it resonated with the Engineering School’s mission to provide “transformative educational experiences” and aligned with its vision to be “a recognized leader in modern, experiential-based engineering education and innovative applied research.”

Director of Development Phil Maroney noted that while each of the nine invited speakers brings a unique perspective to the theme of “Innovation and Inspiration,” what they all have in common is that they are “courageous leaders in their lives and chosen fields.”

Meet the speakers who will be presenting at TEDxFairfieldUniversity (final speaker order to be determined):

• Dr. Stephen F. Badylak, Deputy Director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, has practiced both veterinary and human medicine. More than 10 million patients have been treated with bioscaffolds developed in his research lab.

• David C. Banks, President and CEO of The Eagle Academy Foundation, Inc., was founding principal of the nationally recognized Eagle Academy network of innovative all-boys public schools in N.Y.C., featured on CBS This Morning.

• Cindi Bigelow, H’16, is the third-generation president and CEO of Bigelow Tea, headquartered in Fairfield, Conn. Her predecessor and role model will have a front row seat for her TEDx talk, “Lessons Learned From My Father.”

• Dr. Donna Coletti, Scholar-in-Residence at the Egan School’s Kanarek Center for Palliative Care, will reveal the personal side of her public health career in “The Longest Journey: How Palliative Medicine Changed a Surgical Mind and Heart.”

• Lilliana Delmonico ’20 is a bioengineering major in the School of Engineering and co-founder of the Biomedical Engineering Society at Fairfield University. As a senior in college and the captain of Fairfield’s sailing team, she knows a thing or two about ‘keeping an eye on the horizon.’

• Dr. T. Sloane Guy, professor of surgery and director of Minimally Invasive & Robotic Cardiac Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, is a real-life “Hawkeye Pierce,” having served three tours in the U.S. Army as a trauma surgeon in Afghanistan and Iraq.

• Aidan Kehoe, Founder and CEO of Skout Cybersecurity, has seen it all in his seven years of delivering the highest level of cybersecurity technology and service. His talk will reassure anyone with an online presence that “Feeling Safe in Scary Times” is possible.

• Dawne Ware ’89, CEO of Ware Consulting LLC, brings 20+ years of experience forming, building, and leading companies in the property casualty and reinsurance industries – and a healthy dose of #jesuiteducated – to her TEDx talk, “Ethics: Yes, Even When Nobody is Watching.”

• Mark Unger, owner and director of Unger Global Companies, wrote his book First Survivor to honor the extended family, friends, and dedicated doctors who gave him the strength to confront – and reject – the diagnosis of “zero chance of survival” when his son was diagnosed with childhood cancer.

Peter Van Heerden, executive director of Fairfield’s Quick Center for the Arts, will emcee the afternoon event, which will also feature two recorded presentations: one by author, entrepreneur, and podcaster Tim Ferriss, and the other by former US Army 1^st Lt. and 2016 Paralympic Bronze Medalist, Melissa Stockwell.

Admission to TEDxFairfieldUniversity is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Please visit fairfield.edu/tedxfairfieldrsvp to reserve your seat.

Posted On: October 21, 2019

Volume: 52 Number: 39

Fairfield University is a modern Jesuit Catholic university rooted in one of the world’s oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students from the U.S. and across the globe are pursuing degrees in the University’s five schools. Fairfield embraces a liberal humanistic approach to education, encouraging critical thinking, cultivating free and open inquiry, and fostering ethical and religious values. The University is located on a stunning 200-acre campus on the scenic Connecticut coast just an hour from New York City.