Theme: IF

This year's theme is “IF” - a simple word that communicates a wealth of possibilities. TEDxACU 2019 will focus on those possibilities - the dreams, experiments, hopes, and questions of people working in science, government, communities, art, families, and so much more. We hope you can join us for an evening of speakers and performers poised to ask big questions about the ifs of our future . . . each in 18 minutes or less.

Join us to celebrate 5 years of TEDxACU on Friday, March 1, 2019 with an evening of thought-provoking speakers and performers. Your ticket includes admission to all three evening sessions, appetizers, dinner, and dessert.

Fulks Theatre
Abilene Christian University
Abilene, Texas, 79601
United States

Bailey Plake

Student Minister, The Hills Church

As a student minister, Bailey is often surrounded by teenagers and pizza. But when she was a college student, Bailey spent a lot of time traveling the globe. What she saw and learned in her time abroad drastically changed her views about the best ways to share the stories of those in need. Bailey’s TEDxACU talk will explain how the stories that humanitarian, religious, and non-profit groups tell about people in need impact everyday conversations about suffering and need around the world.

Brad Gautney

Founder and President, Global Health Innovations

As a pediatric nurse practitioner and public health specialist, Brad has devoted his career to providing life-saving interventions to pregnant mothers living with HIV/AIDS and their babies around the world. Brad’s TEDxACU talk will explain how his journey to end pediatric HIV/AIDS led to a partnership with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Kenyan government to treat mothers and babies with HIV/AIDS in four countries and provide life-saving care to more than 120,000 women and children worldwide.

Byron & Stacie Stephenson

Owners & Pitmaster, The Shed Market

The Shed Market hasn’t been open a year yet, but it sells out of BBQ daily and has already earned the praise of West Texans (who know their BBQ, of course) and an excellent review from Texas Monthly’s BBQ Editor. For Byron and Stacie, opening The Shed continued the legacy of Byron’s grandparents, pitmasters at the original, but now closed, Shed in Wingate, Texas. In their TEDxACU talk, filmed on location at The Shed, they will share a few pro tips with audience members and address many of the “what ifs” of smoking brisket -- the Texas way.

Chemistry Club

The ACU Chemistry Club is dedicated to educating a broad audience about chemistry and biochemistry. They have a long tradition of performing in schools and during their annual Chemistry Circus on campus.

Clint Schumacher

Attorney, Dawson & Sodd, LLP

During his twenty-one year legal career, Clint has been named to the elite Texas SuperLawyer list and has helped clients achieve judgments or settlements in excess of $100 million. But in his free time, he hosts his own podcast and serves as a part-time football coach at Trinity Christian Academy. In his TEDxACU talk, Clint will ask the audience to consider how life might be different if they decided it didn’t matter how many times they had been knocked down, but focused instead on what it would take to get back up again and again -- eventually finding a vision for their lives and the tools to become more resilient.

Grace-Kelly Muvunyi

Nutrition Major, Abilene Christian University

Grace-Kelly has spent the past few years learning about culturally relevant nutrition education for people all the over the world, particularly in Africa. And as a McNair Scholar, her research has focused on how East African immigrants and refugees adapt to food culture and accessibility in the US and the effects these changes have on their health. As a Rwandan-American, Grace-Kelly describes culture as core to her identity, and in her TEDxACU talk, she will explain how incorporating cancer prevention diet recommendations can be a part of anyone’s life -- without abandoning the foods that are joyful elements of their culture.

Hannah Johnson

Interdisciplinary Studies Major, Abilene Christian University

Hannah grew up traveling, and her upbringing steered her interests toward culture and the arts. Eventually this led to her study theology, literature, and design at ACU. She is deeply passionate about the intersection of culture and the arts and the way in which people interact and engage with the world through art. Hannah’s TEDxACU talk will invite the audience to reassess the way they create and perceive images and typography -- particularly in the form of logos. She will show that images are not always what they appear, but are sometimes even more than what you see at first glance.

Hilltop A Cappella

Hilltop is a mixed vocals, a cappella ensemble made up of ACU upperclassmen who perform a variety of contemporary Christian and pop music.

Justin Goldston

Senior Management Consultant, Ultra Consultants

As a certified management consultant, Justin has spent most of his career working with leaders of organizations around the world as they implement enterprise applications. It’s work driven by his love for technology and passion for driving positive social change. Justin’s TEDxACU talk will consider some “ifs” of blockchain’s future impact on the “sharing economy” by explaining the potential for this technology to disrupt the entire industry -- fundamentally changing the way companies like Uber and Airbnb do business.

Kathryn Childers

Author & Speaker

Kathryn was one of the first five women recruited as US Secret Service Agents in 1970 and spent the next few years investigating counterfeiting and threats against the President, protecting foreign dignitaries, and traveling with Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis. In her TEDxACU talk, Kathryn will share lessons learned during years of embracing unique and unexpected opportunities -- from the secret service, to 18 years as a broadcast journalist, and even founding a publishing company -- and ask audience members to consider how they will face the challenges in their own lives.

Rusty Towell

NEXT Lab Director, Abilene Christian University

For the past 18 years, Rusty has mentored students inside and outside the classroom as they have worked at many national laboratories on international experiments. He is currently the founding director of ACU’s NEXT Lab for Nuclear Energy eXperimental Testing -- a project sparked by his 2015 TEDxACU talk about the world-changing benefits of molten salt reactors. In his second TEDxACU talk, Rusty will explain the life-saving potential of advanced nuclear reactors that will only be possible if the public is willing to support nuclear power.

Ryan Pemberton

Minister for University Engagement, First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley

At 25, Ryan left a successful career in marketing and public relations, liquidated his retirement account, and moved with his wife across the Atlantic Ocean to pursue a calling. That journey led them to Oxford, England to live in the former home of English author C.S. Lewis; and, eventually, to his greatest nightmare in a social services waiting room in Durham, NC. In his TEDxACU talk, Ryan will discuss how the ups and downs of this journey dramatically redefined how he understood the role of success and failure.

Sanctify Dance Company

Sanctify is a Hip-Hop dance group at Abilene Christian University dedicated to showing the holiness that can be found in Hip-Hop music and dance.