Theme: Mind and Body

TEDxTuscaloosa enters its second year with the theme Mind and Body. This year, we'll hear from a comedian, a television news anchor, a university professor, a registered dietician, a magician and more.

Mellow Mushroom
2230 University Blvd
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 35401
United States

Curt Anderson

Curt Anderson is a professional magician who has performed across the USA, eight countries, and has been featured on world-wide TV. Curt stretches his own brain's capacity to perform magic, mentalism, amazing physical feats, and more. He specializes in using your brain against you! He creates a unique experience based on how you think and what you have experienced.

Darrin Griffin

Darrin Griffin is an Assistant Professor in Communication Studies at the University of Alabama. He researches and teaches interpersonal communication with a focus on lying and deception. He teaches an upper-level course on Truth, Ethics, and Deception at UA, which takes the perspective that understanding these concepts guides students to an understanding of effective communication. The course is framed as interpersonal and consumer protection for students’ lives. Darrin has worked with the FBI at the training academy and the Buffalo Field Office.

Kitty Johnson

Kitty Johnson was a teacher from 1971 until her retirement in 201. She received a Master’s in English and a Master’s of Fine Arts in Fiction Writing at the University of Alabama. Kitty became an English Instructor at Shelton State Community College in 1980, until she had a life-changing revelation in 1985: she wanted to pursue a degree in art. She started taking art classes at Shelton while she taught English full-time. In 1994, she transferred to the University of Alabama to work on an equivalency of a B.F.A. in visual arts, and in 1999, she began graduate school at Alabama in photography. After 20 years of taking one course a semester, she received her Master’s in Art in photography in 2005. She and her husband Glen (now a retired librarian) moved to Greensboro in 2002 and are restoring an antebellum home on Main Street.

Mike Royer

In June of 2015, Mike Royer completed 40 years in broadcast television. Mike was born and raised on a family farm in west-central Indiana, and he graduated in 1975 from Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga. He served for eight years in the Indiana and Tennessee Air National Guard. Mike was selected as the Indiana Broadcaster of the Year in 1978, and was named Alabamaʼs Best Television Meteorologist five times by the Associated Press. Mike anchored an Emmy award-winning newscast and received the Edward R. Murrow award for broadcast excellence. For 20 years Mike produced a weekly feature called The Spirit of Alabama.

Rebecca Kelly

Dr. Rebecca Kelly has been involved in the nutrition, health, and wellness industry for over 25 years. She enjoys advancing the health of the individuals and organizations she serves, as well as teaching and mentoring students. Rebecca served as the University of Alabama’s first ever director of health promotion and wellness and currently serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor. She launched her first company in 1991, and serves as founder and President of Element Health, Inc., a specialty nutrition and wellness company serving clients throughout the U.S. Rebecca is involved in nationwide efforts of employee health and well-being, as well as diabetes education. In 2014, Rebecca received the inaugural Heart of HERO (Health Enhancement Research Organization) national award for her leadership and success in designing and delivering nationally recognized corporate wellness programs.

Rick Dowling

Rick Dowling is a part-time comedian, a long-time employee of The University of Alabama and a one-time Publisher’s Clearing House finalist. For much of the 1990s, Rick produced a program at UA’s Center for Public Television called “Integrated Science,” which gave him opportunities to travel around the world. Rick’s wife Suzanne is still fuming that she wasn’t able to accompany him to Australia or Hawaii. Rick and Suzanne have an amazing 24-year-old son named Sam. Sam has autism, which presents their family with a number of challenges and blessings. Both Rick and Suzanne actively seek to raise awareness about autism in the community.

Sheena Gregg

Celebrated by Unilever USA as one of ten Agents of Change in the nutrition industry in 2015, Sheena Quizon Gregg, MS,RDN,LD is a registered dietitian nutritionist and Assistant Director of the Department of Health Promotion & Wellness at the University of Alabama. Prior to working at UA, Sheena spent the beginnings of her career in the clinical setting working in hospitals across rural Alabama. She has served as Chair of the Alabama Obesity Task Force and as a 2015 Spokesperson for the statewide Scale Back Alabama program. Sheena has been awarded Recognized Young Dietitian of the Year by the Alabama Dietetic Association and was recently given the Miriam J. Gaines Leadership Award by the Alabama Obesity Task Force in 2016. She has been quoted in USA Today College, Shape Magazine, and Women’s Health Magazine on the topics of fad diets, weight management, and eating disorders.