TEDxUCincinnati Brings Innovation, Inspiration to the University of Cincinnati on March 27

University of Cincinnati students hope to bring innovation through the sharing of ideas at the first-ever TEDxUCincinnati event later this month.

Rise & Reimagine, TEDxUCincinnati’s Mainstage event, aims to inspire students, faculty, staff and community members to learn from one another through brief lectures. The event will be hosted in the Kresge Auditorium on March 27 from 3-6 p.m.

The event hopes to “capture the upward trajectory and overall reimagination the university had undergone in the past few years.” Speakers will tell stories of success, failure, progress and discovery.

Co-founders Shivam Shah and Jared Haggit started planning the event in May 2014, along with a 45-member team of students and an eight-member executive board.

“We have assembled a team and brought together a diverse speaker list with the help of all our team members,” said Haggit, a fifth-year philosophy student.

From yoga masters to environmental scientists, the conference aims to bring together a diverse group of inspirational leaders that represents the university.

The event will feature 10 phenomenal speakers, as well as one student speaker, Haggit said. Speakers announced so far include:

• Ken Petren, dean of the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences, is a productive evolutionary ecology scholar and community-minded thought leader. Before starting his tenure as dean in 2015, Petren served as the department head of biological sciences.
• Kanniks Kannikeswaran, an award-winning visionary composer and music educator, has been teaching as an adjunct faculty at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati since 1994. His doctoral work explores the intersection between Colonial music and 18th century South Indian art music.
• Paul Miklautsch is a designer, entrepreneur, speaker and patent holder. A graduate of the UC College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, Miklautsch is an award winner for his work within consumer, industrial and medical device markets.
• Cole Imperi is an award-winning designer, health-care professional and yoga specialist. She is the creative director of Doth, and holds a post-graduate certificate in Typeface Design from the Type@Cooper Condensed Program.

Provost Beverly Davenport, whose office sponsored the TEDxUCincinnati event, said the conference invites students, faculty and staff to reimagine UC, the future of the university and the Cincinnati community.

"I'm proud of our students for taking the initiative to host a TEDx conference here," Davenport said. "They are the driving force behind our efforts to rise and reimagine the future of UC, so it seems fitting to support their efforts to nurture creativity and innovation in our community."

Tickets went on sale earlier this week: $15 for UC students and $20 for general admission. For more information about the event, visit the

TEDxUCincinnati website

and follow @TEDxUCincinnati on Twitter.