This past Wednesday, the University of Massachusetts Boston hosted a TEDx talk featuring a panel of eight distinguished speakers from a variety of disciplines and professions. Each guest speaker was allotted fifteen to twenty minutes to talk about and discuss their ideas and what matters to them. Because they are all from diverse backgrounds, they each brought something unique to the table.
Matthew H. Malone is the Massachusetts Secretary of Education and told an anecdote of a student with behavioral disorders at the high school he served as a principal at. He directs the executive office of education in addition to working closely with Commonwealth agencies ranging from Elementary and Secondary Education, all the way through the Department of Higher Education at University of Massachusetts Boston. He has made it his mission to help reform the education system in the state of Massachusetts by working closing with the governor. Dr. Malone has served in a variety of roles across the educational system from Superintendent of Brockton public schools to teaching positions throughout Boston.
Darren Kew focuses on the relationship between conflict resolution methods and the formation of a democratic government in Africa, and spoke about this during his TEDx talk. As the Executive Director for Peace, Democracy, and Development, he closely monitored the last three elections in Nigeria as well as Sierra Leone. Kew also works closely with the United Nations, USAID, and the U.S. State Department in order to analyze the various conflicts in Africa and develop conflict resolutions for them. His most recent project is working with Nigeria’s Interfaith Mediation Centre in Kaduna to study religious methods for conflict resolutions.
Mary C. Still is a member of the Department of Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston, but completed her doctorate degree at Cornell University. Her background as an award-winning investigative reporter shone through her TEDx talk, where she talked about businesses using private sector techniques in the public sector and vice versa. To this day she studies organizational change within business and organizations, and her research focuses on elite U.S. companies and their adoption of disparate practices between things like the internet and family programs.
Edward J. Benz is the president and chief executive officer of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and works closely with the Children’s Hospital of Cancer Care. He graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree and then from Harvard University with a medical degree. After that, he went on to work at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as chairman of the department. He is widely published in a variety of journals and served as a past president of the American Society of Hematology. Benz is also actively involved in the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Association of American Cancer Institutes, the American Clinical and Climatological Association.
Meghan Duggan is the captain of the U.S. women’s national hockey team and gold medalist from the Olympics, and spoke about the importance of not giving up on dreams. She is the winner of four gold medals, as well as the silver medal at the 2010 Olympics. During her time playing at the University of Wisconsin, she was the recipient of Patty Kazmaier Award, an honor given annually to top female collegiate hockey players in the U.S.
Alethea Harney is best known for her work as Press Secretary and travel advisor to Elizabeth Warren’s high profile senate race in 2012. She was a frequent correspondent for both the New York Times and the Boston Globe, and played a leading role in crafting communication strategies as spokesperson of the Massachusetts Treasurer’s Office. She has continued with her political involvement serving in 2009 as Joe Biden’s senior advisor in his Iowa campaign. She graduated from Tufts University majoring in political science and currently serves as the senior director of communications at Consumer United.
Jacob Kigo Kariuki is a nursing student in the master’s program at the University of Massachusetts Boston and spoke about bettering education on a local and national level. He received his undergraduate degree in nursing from the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton, in Kenya. In Kenya, he worked closely as a staff nurse and educator at the Tumutumu Hospital School of Nursing and is currently a PhD student in the Population Health Track and a fellow with the American Heart Association. He is interested in researching cardiometabolic diseases.
Tony DeBlois is a local pianist from Randolph who has overcome numerous obstacles in his lifetime as a blind, autistic musician living with Savant Syndrome. He’s been playing since he was two years old, and it shows in his performances. He has been featured on a variety of TV shows including programs such as two Catholic Global Showcase Specials (2001), The Learning Channel’s “Uncommon Genius”, Strange Science’s “Unusual People”, and “Understanding the Mysteries of Memory.” He has won a variety of awards, including the Boston Celtics “Hero Among Us” (2003), Chou, Ta-Kuan Cultural and Educational Foundations Global’s “Love of Life Award” (2002), the Faith and Family Foundation Outstanding Achievement Award (2000), the coveted Reynolds Society Achievement Award (1996), the Foundation for Exceptional Children’s prestigious “Yes, I can” Award (1993) and the Panasonic Sponsored, VSA arts Itzhak Perlman Award (1992). He provided the entertainment for the evening.