Theme: You Are Here

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).

800 S Tucker Drive
Tulsa, Oklahoma, 74104
United States

Luis Garcia & Deena Burks

Luis is a Math/Science Tutor, Mechanical Engineering Student, Member of the 2016-17 Living Arts performance committee, and Dancer for Portico Dance Theater. Presented his debut choreographic composition “Call of Nature” in the Exchange Choreography Festival 2016 at Studio K of Tulsa Ballet. Commissioned by Portico and Tulsa Symphony to Dace “Revue de Cuisine” music by Bohuslav Martinu at Philbrook Museum. Equity Member Program Actor with Tulsa Project Theater. Has studied, and performed, West African Dance and rhythms from Deena Burks for over two years. Ballet Training at Tulsa Ballet.

Asura Oulds

Asura Oulds is a vocal performance and music composition major at the University of Tulsa. He has composed several performances for his fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha.

Autumn Slaughter

Autumn Slaughter is a doctoral student in the University of Tulsa’s clinical psychology program. Her psychology background also includes a masters in counseling psychology from Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma City. In addition to psychology, Autumn also studied English in her undergraduate program at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, IL. She has been a featured poet at poetry readings in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and her work has appeared in regional magazines and on websites. Autumn has also published five books, including a memoir that explores trauma and depression (published under her maiden name) and two books of poetry.

Dallas Elleman

Dallas Elleman is an Engineering Physics/EE Robotics student at The University of Tulsa with minors in Innovation/Entrepreneurship and Cybersecurity. He is a recent transfer from Tulsa Community College whose academic career includes an internship at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, selection as a finalist in the National Science Foundation’s Community College Innovation Challenge, and a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation scholarship. Before this, Dallas spent several unprofitable and ultimately unsuccessful years aspiring towards rock stardom while employed in the not-very-lucrative manual labor and construction sector, almost a decade as a Field Network Technician (cable guy) for Cox Communications in Tulsa and, in general, a great deal of time engaged in a long series of apparently (at the time) unrelated puzzles and challenges that eventually resulted in a strong compulsion to more productively join humanity’s timeless struggle for answers, progress and meaning through the pursuit of higher education.

Deborah Love Bradshaw

Deborah Bradshaw is a professional speaker, author and educator. Her formal training is in Education, Psychology, Business Management and Marketing, Body Language and Acting Techniques. Deborah has developed and facilitated classes coaching professionals in the use of acting techniques and body language in order to help them feel more comfortable speaking in public and to assist them in developing more effective communication. Deborah lived in Southeast Asia as a child and young adult. Her experiences there have given her insight into cross-cultural communication. She uses these experiences and positive body language techniques to teach people how to understand the cues they are receiving. Through these methods, participants also learn to practice the science of body language to influence their own brain chemistry in order to create a more positive attitude and accomplish personal goals. Deborah has presented to local and national audiences on topics ranging from Improving Education, Disability Related Issues, Better Communication as well as other motivational topics. She may be reached at 918-697-5185 or by email at deborahlovebradshaw@gmail.com.

Denise Dutton

Dr. Denise Dutton serves as an Assistant Provost at The University of Tulsa. She directs the Honors Program, teaching a range of seminars from the Ancient Greeks to the Enlightenment and guiding students as they join the centuries-old conversation about what makes for the well-lived life. She is also the founding director of the Henneke Center for Academic Fulfillment, a campus resource to support TU professors as they experiment with ways to engage and support students in the learning process and ways to share their scholarship with the general public. Dr. Dutton earned her Ph.D. in Politics at Princeton University. She served as Assistant Professor of Political Science at Missouri State University for several years, before returning to her alma mater. She and her husband stay busy chasing after twin toddlers and the family Boxer.

Ellen Emeric

Ellen Emeric is a senior at The University of Tulsa studying Sociology and Economics, and her interests in demography and the built environment have led her to pursue a career as a City Planner. She currently works at Tulsa City Hall in the Planning and Development Department, and has conducted research for the City as well at Texas A&M University, where she was accepted as a summer research fellow in the departments of Urban Planning and Sociology. On campus, Ellen passionately serves the Newman Center as a Peer Minister and Graphic Designer.

Gerard Clancy

Dr. Gerard Clancy is President of The University of Tulsa. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelors degree in Biochemistry (1983), an American Heart Association Research Fellowship (1985), and a medical doctor degree with Alpha Omega Alpha Honors (1988). He continued on at the University of Iowa with his Psychiatry Residency and Psychiatry Chief Resident training (1992). Before joining The University of Tulsa, Dr. Clancy was the Dean of the College of Medicine, Tulsa. In 2006 he assumed the additional role as President of the University of Oklahoma, Tulsa. Currently he serves on numerous Boards across Oklahoma and was the 2015 Chairman of the Board of the Tulsa Area United Way. Dr. Clancy’s areas of expertise include health disparities, health care delivery system and health professions education transformation, severe mental illness and creative talent development, retention and recruitment for regional economic development. He assumed the position of President of The University of Tulsa in November 2016.

Grayson Lynch

Grayson Lynch is a 22 year old business student at TU. He has had a lifelong love for guns. This passion for guns lead him to Murray State College in Tishomingo Oklahoma, where he earned an Associates degree in the Applied Science of Gunsmithing. Having formal training on gunsmithing theory, technology, and practices, he is passionate about stopping the spread of misinformation about firearms.

Katie Hoffman

Katie Hoffman is a writer, speaker and life-coach, on a mission to help others create lives and relationships they are proud of. In October 2016, she founded Fairytale Reform, a website dedicated to helping young women reframe what they have always been told about happily ever after. By blending research, personal experience and spirituality, Fairytale Reform provides tools, inspiration and community to help followers live their fairytales– whether they’re single, taken or somewhere in between. Katie is dedicated to serving women along all walks of life and works closely with local and global non-profits to help women become physically, emotionally and economically independent. In May 2017, she will graduate from the University of Tulsa with a B.A in Communication and a minor in Psychology.

Lauren Miller

Lauren is a social advocate dedicated to seeing peaceful and effective communication throughout the community. She has spent over hundreds of hours researching how community and police interactions can be improved and is the author of Project: Cohesion, a proposal on how to improve community relationships with law enforcement. She is also the coordinator of The 12th, an event in which ORU students visited the Tulsa Sheriff Department and gave a presentation regarding encouraging better communication between law enforcement and the community. Lauren is passionate about encouraging and equipping the younger generation to make a difference in their communities and world.

Luke Crouch

Luke is a web software engineer with 15 years experience. He currently develops web software at Mozilla, focusing on security & privacy prototypes and experiments for Firefox. In that role, he has built tracking protection services and features, measured online tracking, and shared what he has learned with collaborators at Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Princeton Web Transparency & Accountability Project.

Zachary Fullingim

Born February 28, 1992, Zachary was raised with his younger brother by his powerful single mother, who fell in love and married his fourth grade football coach. February 23, 2003 that coach, the only father he had ever known, adopted the boys as his own. He graduated Lincoln Christian School in 2010 and attended Oklahoma State University from 2010-2013 where he played football and studied behavioral psychology. He is a Husband to his wife Caitlin, Father to his daughter Caiah, Project Supervisor for his families’ commercial roofing company Hi-Tech Systems Inc, volunteer football and basketball coach for Sand Springs 3rd grade, facilitator for Tulsa Public Schools’ Student Athlete Advisory Committee, he sits on the board of directors for the non-profit Game Time Foundation, hosts football camps as a Camp director and coordinator for Pinnacle Football Academy, and hosts youth and adult leadership development courses as a certified John Maxwell speaker and coach.