By: Lydia Rogers ~Campus News Editor~

TEDxXavierUniversity hosted its 3rd annual lecture event, which worked to inspire students, faculty and community members with a series of presentations on April 11 in Kennedy Auditorium.

TEDx events are independently-organized TED talks, which focus on “Ideas Worth Spreading” in the hope of fostering discussion and new ideas. TEDx XavierUniversity is completely student run and is meant to encourage innovative thinking and to prompt purposeful action.
The theme of this year’s presentation was “Conflict and Violence: An exploration of their causes, prominence and the unexpected roles they play in our lives.”

“Violence has caused us to be more innovative and conflict often forces us to re-evaluate the world in a way that causes us to grow as individuals and as a community,” CEO of Dooley Media and Master of Ceremonies Matthew Dooley said.

Six speakers shared their ideas and experiences with the theme of conflict. The speakers were chosen by an online application process, in which they were selected based on how well their application aligned with the conflict and violence theme.

Georgine Getty, Director of Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Cincinnati, was the first speaker with her presentation, in which she discussed the hidden truth of Christmas that forces those in need to live with the lack of privacy and autonomy.

Beth Nowak, a Xavier graduate and founder of Giving Families, gave her presentation, in which she discussed being proactive rather than reactive to combat conflict and violence by educating children.

Lyden Foust, a Xavier graduate and research and innovation consultant at The SEEK Company, discussed how world leaders use the natural design of war for good in his presentation.
Dr. Victor Garcia, the founding director of Trauma Services at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, explored the systematic problems of violence, specifically in Cincinnati.
Dr. Tammy Brown, a history professor at Miami University of Ohio, discussed using art and creativity to combat social injustice.

Finally, Marvin Abrinica, founder of Thrivera, discussed the roles of storytellers in building our communities and the roles of conflict and violence in that journey.

“Our goal is not to end conflict and violence in the world,” Dooley said. “Instead our goal is to begin a conversation so that we can better understand the roles that they play in our lives in an effort to be more aware of our surroundings, more deliberate in our actions and more likely to use conflict as a means to better the world around us.”