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).

Southern Utah University
351 W Center Street
Cedar City, Utah, 84720
United States

Austin Henline

"Austin Henline is an advocate for college student participation in the professional world. He has engaged in dozens of informational interviews with experts across multiple industries and is establishing himself as an influential voice for students to follow. As a college student, he has built a first and second degree network of nearly one million professionals. Every week, Austin receives messages from students and business leaders all over the world asking for LinkedIn advice. He has delivered presentations to college groups and company executives on how to improve LinkedIn strategies. Having experienced these benefits first hand, he hopes to teach college students how to leverage LinkedIn for their own personal career growth.

Cory Henwood

Cory Henwood is the Innovative Teaching and Learning Coordinator at Iron County School District and is the founding designer of Launch High School, a personalized, competency-based school focused on projects with local industry partners. Cory's passion for educational reform and the empowerment of teachers and students has guided his work in both Canada and the US as a principal, instructional coach, consultant, and math teacher. He has high hopes for the future of education and is driven to provide a rich and relevant educational experience tailored for each student, including his four little ones, Skylee(7), Sophee(5), Sydnee(4), and Dawson(2).

Eric Kirby

Dr. Eric Kirby currently serves as the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at Southern Utah University. In this role, he leads important campus retention, completion, and student success initiatives, as well as directly oversees numerous offices. Dr. Kirby holds a B.A. in Political Science from Southern Utah University, a M.S. in Administration from the University of Denver, a J.D. in Law from the University of Denver, and a Ph.D. in Global Leadership and Academic Administration from Indiana Tech. Prior to working in higher education, Dr. Kirby practiced law for nearly a decade after successfully passing the bar exams in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. He is fluent in Spanish and teaches a wide-array of university courses, including classes focusing on constitutional law, student development theories, criminal justice, college success, and leadership/professional development. He is happily married with six beautiful children.

Geoffrey Lewis

After serving for ten years in the U.S. Air Force as a Chinese Linguist, Geoff taught English in China before returning to California to earn his Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership. Subsequently, he found a rewarding vocation in university career services, and completed the amazing LEAD: Corporate Innovation Certificate at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He now serves as the Assistant Director of Employer Relations at Southern Utah University’s Career & Professional Development Center. Despite ongoing struggles with anxiety and depression, Geoff continues to work hard to find ways to serve others and make the world a brighter place.

John Lisonbee

John Lisonbee, Southern Utah University Programmer and MS-CSIA graduate. Responsible for access to SUU's data and deployment of the Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. The first graduate of SUU's Masters in Cyber Security and Information Assurance program and advocate of good password management to anyone who will listen to him. No longer can he sit back and just allow for poor password management to happen on his clock. He believes the days of sticky notes and plain text passwords need to stop. Owning our responsibility to each learn the tools and adapt to protect personal and organizational data are critical efforts worth spending time on and have to start now.

Robb McCollum

Robb McCollum devotes his time to improving communication between speakers of other languages. As a language educator, he has worked with international students and faculty at institutions in Virginia, Hawaii, and Utah. In his position with the American Language and Culture Center at Southern Utah University, Robb builds bridges between global and local English speakers. Robb has learned that how we listen is at least as important as what we say.

Ryan Bailey

Ryan Bailey currently serves as the Coordinator of Completion of Student Success. In that role he oversees the ACES program and works with Student Affairs on student success, retention, and graduation initiatives. He is a graduate of SUU and is currently pursuing a masters degree. Originally from Monticello, UT Ryan has been in Cedar City since 2012 and loves the home he has found here. He enjoys the outdoors, reading, and spending time with his wife Morgan. Ryan will be speaking on failure and feels he is an expert on the subject, hoping that this TEDxSUU talk doesn't get added to his failure portfolio.

Tasha Seegmiller

Tasha Seegmiller is a lecturer of English at Southern Utah University where she earned a Bachelors in English Lit and a Masters in Education. She is pursuing an MFA in Writing novel-length fiction from Pacific University, serves as the president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and her writing is represented by Annelise Robey of Jane Rotrosen Agency. At the start of each day, she slips out from under her weighted blanket which calms her anxiety, takes a dose of Prozac to combat chronic depression, and twice a month, she talks to a therapist. Tasha met her husband when she was seven (no, they weren’t high school sweethearts, yes, they were best friends), has three amazing teenagers, and is a co-owner of a cotton candy catering company (The Sugar Nerd) and soda shack (The Soda Nerd).