Theme: Sustainable Communities

The TEDx University of Hartford Student club was established in 2014 and its purpose is to encourage and support cross-campus collaboration between students by means of creating an independently organized TED event. The aspiration was to get students involved in the University of Hartford community while expanding their education beyond what they would normally experience in their respective curriculum and encourage them to think critically on contemporary issues. This event is the culmination of this aspiration!

Wilde Auditorium
University of Hartford
200 Bloomfield Avenue
West Hartford, Connecticut, 06119
United States

Carol Padberg

Carol Padberg is an artist and Associate Professor at the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford. She is the founder and director of the Interdisciplinary MFA which brings together ecology, urbanism and contemporary art.

Elizabeth Schorr

Elizabeth Schorr is a senior Music Education and Vocal Performance double major in The Hartt School, University of Hartford. She is a passionate educator and performer, and this presentation is a culmination of what she has learned as a student at the University of Hartford.

Hugo Santana

Hugo is a Senior Mechanical Engineering student, who aims to one day design innovative, long lasting products. His sudden change to a nomadic lifestyle has given him a unique perspective on what it means to travel light.

Joyce Ashuntantang

Born in Cameroon, Central Africa, Dr. Joyce Ashuntantang is an Associate Professor of English at University of Hartford’s Hillyer College. Poet, actress, and fiction writer, she is the author of many scholarly and creative publications.

Karen Cook

Karen Cook joined the Hartt School at the University of Hartford in 2013 as an assistant professor of music history. She specializes in late medieval and early Renaissance music, but maintains an active agenda in music and media such as film, television, and video games.

Laura Pence

Dr. Laura Pence spent her 2012-2013 sabbatical year as a Congressional Science Policy Fellow on Capitol Hill in the office of Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado. She is a Professor and award-winning teacher in the Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Hartford.

Liel Asulin

Liel Asulin is a Junior studying International Studies and Economics at the University of Hartford. He discovered improvisation when he joined the University's improv troupe, "Stop Laughing, Mom!" Liel would like to thank his family for being so supportive and his fellow improvisers for showing him a completely new way to look at the world.

Michael Robinson

Michael Robinson is a historian of science and exploration at the University of Hartford. He is the author of "The Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture." His new book The Lost White Tribe: Explorers, Scientists, and the Theory that Changed a Continent" comes out with Oxford University Press in December.

Michael Wininger

Mike is a faculty member in the University of Hartford's Prosthetics & Orthotics Program, and is also a Statistician of Medicine with the Department of Veterans Affairs, working on multi-center randomized clinical trials.

Puja Bhardwaj

Puja Bhardwaj is a senior in the College of Education, Nursing, and Health Professions at the University of Hartford. She is majoring in Health Science and plans on attending medical school next fall.

Seth Holmes

Seth Holmes is an architect and Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Hartford where he teaches courses in sustainable design and building systems. His research focuses on the development of climate change adaptation and resiliency methods for use in architectural and urban design practice.

Susan Coleman

Dr. Coleman is a Professor of Finance in the Barney School of Business, University of Hartford. She teaches courses in corporate and entrepreneurial finance at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Her research focuses on women entrepreneurs, and she is the author of A Rising Tide: Financing Strategies of Women-Owned Firms (2012) as well as The Next Wave which will be published in spring 2016.