Theme: Speak Out!

The inaugural TEDxGrinnell will address the theme, "Speak Out!" Seven
noteworthy alumni will speak out on diverse topics, from how children
learn to speak to how we can speak out against injustice.

1108 Park Street
Roberts Theatre
Grinnell, Iowa, 50112
United States

April Dobbins

April Dobbins is a filmmaker, writer, and photographer. Her work has been featured in a number of publications, among them Calyx, Cimarron Review, Thema, Redivider, Cura, Harvard University’s Transition Magazine, and the Philadelphia City Paper. She was invited by photographer Alec Soth to participate in the Little Brown Mushroom Camp for Socially Awkward Storytellers, which was featured on the BBC website. Her documentary photography project, “Alabamaland,” chronicles her family’s life and history in the rural South. Dobbins is a recipient of the S.J. Weiler Fund Award, which is made in recognition of exemplary artistic achievement and creativity in the visual arts as well as significant contributions to the arts community. She is a member of FitzHitz Music Group, LLC. www.aprildobbins.com

Emma Kelty-Stephen

Emma Kelty-Stephen is an assistant professor of psychology at Grinnell College. Her main research area is children’s language development, especially early word learning and language development in autism. At Grinnell she teaches courses in introductory psychology, developmental psychology, language development, and atypical development. She earned her B.A. from Grinnell in 2004 with a major in psychology and a concentration in linguistics. After graduating, Emma worked as an assistant to immigration lawyers at Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis and as a resource facilitator at the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota. She then went to the University of Connecticut and earned a Ph.D. in developmental psychology in 2013. When she is not working, Emma enjoys cooking, catching up with friends the old fashioned way (on the phone), listening to NPR, and visiting her family in western Massachusetts.

Joshua Tepfer

Joshua Tepfer is an assistant clinical professor at Northwestern University School of Law and co-director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth (CWCY) – the first project focused on the particular vulnerability of young people to wrongful conviction. As an appellate and post-conviction attorney, Josh has represented scores of adults and juveniles convicted of serious felony offenses, and he has helped secure the release of roughly a dozen innocent men or boys wrongfully convicted of murders. A recognized expert in the area of police interrogations and false confessions, Josh regularly writes expert briefs amicus curiae in jurisdictions all over the country, publishes articles, and appears in national media outlets discussing these and other criminal justice issues. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court cited a brief written by the CWCY and co-written by Josh in its majority opinion. He is the father of three wonderful and creative children.

Lester Alemán

Lester Alemán was born and raised in Los Angeles. His family emigrated to the United States during the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. He is a first-generation college student and attended Grinnell College as a Posse Scholar. During his time at Grinnell, he was an active member of multiple student groups but is most known for having developed and written the College’s first gender-neutral housing policy as director of the Stonewall Resource Center. Since graduating in 2007, he has worked at The Posse Foundation’s Los Angeles office as a trainer and program director. He has helped develop, encourage, and support a strong cadre of young adults entering some of the nation’s most competitive and prestigious colleges and universities.

Tarell "Ahmed" Rodgers

Ahmed is an Imam in the Shadhiliyya Sufi Tariqa. He has spoken nationally and internationally on topics of spirituality, healing, and peace. Ahmed holds a master’s degree in education and has touched hundreds of lives. As a teacher, mentor, and healer, Ahmed speaks on the role of spirituality in our wolrld, healing relationships, and world peace. An accomplished teacher, Ahmed moves audiences to find the truth of God within their hearts and to seek their inner guidance in resolving and healing the issues that people face within their lives. Ahmed empowers people — many of whom face challenges similar to his own — to succeed by sharing his personal story. He recognizes people’s barriers, focuses on their strengths, and pushes them to achieve their goals. He was recently awarded the prestigious Citizens Against Recidivism Award for Leadership in Education.

Wadzi Motsi

Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Wadzanai Motsi’s fascination with national politics was borne out of her experiences witnessing the country’s political and economic upheaval in the early 2000s. She left in 2008 to study international relations at Grinnell College, where she focused her academic work and extra-curricular activities on examining the relationship between democracy and development in African countries. Upon graduation, Wadzanai was awarded a Thomas J. Watson fellowship to learn about the motivation for youth political activism in Egypt, Ghana, Tunisia, the Czech Republic, and Cambodia. Her fellowship broadened her perspective on the role of youth in politics, their potential to achieve change, and the harsh obstacles that prohibit the youth voice in a national context. Wadzanai is currently living in Zimbabwe, working for an international public health non-profit organization.

Zander Cannon

Since 1993, Zander Cannon has written and drawn comics about gods, robots, astronauts, police officers, paleontologists, aliens, feng shui masters, superheroes, and monsters. He lives in Minnesota with his strong wife Julie and above-average son Jin.