Theme: Common Ends

Organized by a student-led group, Bowdoin College will be hosting its first TEDx university event: TEDxBowdoinCollege. The theme "Common Ends" is an excerpt from "The Offer of the College", a famous statement on a liberal education at Bowdoin College by President William DeWitt Hyde.

Kresge Auditorium
239 Maine Street
Brunswick, Maine, 04011
United States

Bill Cullina

Executive Director of Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Bill Cullina is currently the Executive Director for one of North America's newest and most exciting public gardens, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Booth bay, Maine. Previously he was the Nursery Director and Head Propagator at New England Wildflower Society in Massachusetts. Mr. Cullina is a well-known author and recognized authority on North American native plants and lectures on a variety of subjects to garden and professional groups, and writes for popular and technical journals. His books include, Wildflowers, Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines, Understanding Orchids, Native Ferns, Mosses, and Grasses, Understanding Perennials: New Look at an Old Favorite, and co-authored Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens: A People’s Garden in 2011. He and his wife, Melissa, live with their three young children on Southport Island in Mid-Coast Maine.

Caitie Whelan

Blogger, former Senior Foreign Policy Adviser, and co-founder of an Indian School

Caitie Whelan is the Founder/Noter-in-Chief of The Lightning Notes, a short daily post to help us move the world forward. It features great ideas and striking stories to remind us that we matter and that improving the world is our matter. Prior to The Lightning Notes, Caitie was a Senior Foreign Policy Advisor in Congress, co-founded a school in India with a community of lower caste musicians, and raised pigs in Italy. She is a graduate of Brown University - where she co-launched their Social Innovation Initiative and is a member of the Brown Women’s Leadership Council - and the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, where she co-founded and chaired the Salt Alumni Board. She is a Truman Scholar from Maine.

Danielle Horne

Student at Bowdoin College

Danielle Horne grew up in Maryland and attended school in D.C., where she enjoyed climbing at Carter Rock, and white water kayaking on the Potomac River. In addition to enjoying the outdoors, she has played the clarinet since the fifth grade, and will be playing in a concert with Bowdoin College Concert Band shortly after this! Danielle first learned about bumblebees when she spent seven weeks researching their foraging behavior and homing ability at Oregon State University. Since then she has continued to pursue her interest in the environment and bees, and can be seen swiping at bushes with a bee net when the weather is warm.

Hideyoshi Akai

Student at Bowdoin College

I am a sophomore at Bowdoin College. I was born and raised in Tokyo, but I've also lived on the Big Island of Hawaii. I decided to participate in TEDx because I wanted to share my thoughts on our relationship with smartphones. I believe smartphones play a significant role in affecting our “Common Ends,” which I define as “the destination where we lead our future generation.” As much as I appreciate their incredible versatility, I find it strange, or even alarming, how they distance us from the real world and isolate us in our own spheres. I hope my talk will resonate with you, so that we can together become more conscious about our smartphone usage and reach the ideal “Common Ends”—where children of future generations value human interactions and enjoy being present.

Juan Burciaga

Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics at Bowdoin College

Juan Burciaga is a physicist and physics educator with a degree in theoretical molecular physicist from Texas A&M University. He has taught at a number of strong liberal arts colleges, most recently at Mount Holyoke College, Colorado College and Bowdoin College. Early in his career Dr. Burciaga became aware of questions that invariably occur in the teaching/learning environment. Questions of student learning, classroom community, and faculty development. He found that he could pursue these questions with the same passion, discipline and rigor as those of physics scholarship.

Julianna Courard-Hauri

Student at Bowdoin College

Julianna Courard Hauri is a junior at Bowdoin College and the founder and president of the Asexual and Aromantic Community for Education (A*CE)- an organization dedicated to building a community for asexual and aromantic people at Bowdoin, as well as helping people outside of the community come to a better understanding of these identities. She has helped to organize asexual and aromantic student meet-ups across the state of Maine, as well as working to educate the general public on these identities, on and off campus. She has written articles about queer identities on platforms from The Bowdoin Orient to Cracked.com. Outside of her activism, Julianna studies psychology with a minor in dance.

Michael Moynihan

Vice President of Marketing at LEGO

Michael Moynihan is Vice President of Global Marketing Excellence and Partnerships for The LEGO Group, the world’s second largest toy company. This area of responsibility drives all consumer, shopper and market insights, strategic partnerships, and marketing capability building globally. Prior to his current role, Moynihan led the Marketing function in The LEGO Group’s U.S. business unit for five years. Prior to leading the US Marketing function, Moynihan held various positions in the US Marketing team since joining The LEGO 21 years ago. Before joining The LEGO Group., Moynihan worked in Marketing at General Mills, managing brands in both the Yoplait yogurt and Big G cereal divisions, including the flagship Cheerios brand. He began his professional career working as a consultant at Monitor Group, a strategic consultancy. Moynihan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bowdoin College and a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.