Bentley-coalescence-tedx

Student-led TEDx aims to bridge curricular gap


Undergraduate students launch TEDx on campus to discuss blending science with art–and why it’s important.

Bentley-coalescence-tedxWith growing pressure for students to focus on STEM, pioneering undergraduate students from one university recently decided to focus not just on science, but on a “coalescence” of science and art–a topic so critical, said the students, that it warranted a self-made TEDx summit.

Bentley University hosted its first TEDx event on Saturday March 28, 2015. Not only was it unique in that it was the first, but it also was organized entirely by undergraduate students.

TEDxBentleyU featured 13 speakers, including the founder of clothing retailer Johnny Cupcakes Johnny Earle, Boston Globe Reporter Bob Ryan, Bentley faculty members and recent alumni.

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Inspired after watching TED talks in his New Product Development and Marketing class, Kevin Ma (’15) decided to apply for a license in May 2014 for Bentley to host its own TEDx event. Once the license was approved at the start of the school year, Ma and 15 undergraduate peers, all members of a newly appointed TEDxBentleyU board, came together with the guidance of a faculty advisor, Natural Sciences Professor David Szymanski, to organize the day-long conference.

(Next page: The importance of “coalescence”)

“Kevin and the TEDxBentleyU team have done an incredible job of overcoming logistical challenges to execute an event that truly represents the trans-disciplinary thinking we want Bentley graduates to employ in fusing business with the arts and sciences,” Szymanski says. “I would encourage all students to approach projects with the drive for success and passion for learning I have seen from Kevin and his board.”

The theme for TEDxBentleyU, “coalescence,” signifies the joining of two or more ideas. Derived from Bentley’s mission to blend the arts and sciences with a core business curriculum, Ma explains that the theme offers students the opportunity to hear from a diverse menu of experts on why areas such as sustainability, innovation, and STEM matter to the business world.

“This event is another way to expose Bentley’s student body to new and different ways of thinking and to hopefully inspire them,” Ma says.

The University, which focuses on the world of business, has also taken an interest in their liberal arts program with the objective of exposing students to varying ideas separate from the business curriculum. The goal being, explains the University, to provide more artistic mediums to students in hopes of offering “enhanced mental stimulation, to give birth to unconventional thought processes and to expose students to preexisting ideas in their field to strengthen familiarity.”

For more information about the event, featured speakers and tickets, go to http://www.tedxbentleyu.com/.

 

Material from a press release was used in this report.

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