History | TEDxUNCPembroke

On Saturday, February 11th, 2023, from 9 am to 3 pm. The University of North Carolina at Pembroke held its first-ever TEDx event! This half-day conference was held on the first floor of the newly built James A. Thomas Hall in the Upchurch Auditorium. There was also a livestream made available on our YouTube channel.

TEDx conferences are independently organized events modeled after the national TED conference held annually. These independently organized conferences are an incredible way to highlight what TED’s mission is committed to: “ideas worth spreading.” Various TEDx events have been held on multiple UNC system school campuses, and were able to host our own at UNCP!

The theme of this year’s event was “Innovation, Collaboration, Scholarship.” At this event, we shared groundbreaking ideas from six different faculty and staff speakers and four different professional speakers from outside of North Carolina. Talks ranged from ideas about how to get rid of fear, uncertainty, and doubt in your life to the importance of neoclassicism in our current society.

Our Speakers

Event Program

Program

Program page 2

The Organizers & The Event Schedule

Program page 4

About TED & Special Thanks

Program

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Host: Dr. Joshua K. Busman

Joshua Kalin Busman is an Assistant Professor who teaches music history and music theory in the Department of Music in addition to serving as Assistant Dean of the Esther G. Maynor Honors College. He completed his Ph.D. in Musicology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2015 with a dissertation about pop- and rock-styled Christian worship music in American evangelical megachurches. His research focuses broadly on contemporary evangelical Christianity with particular focuses on worship, affect, and mass-media. Over the past several years, Joshua has presented at a host of regional, national, and international conferences and published work in numerous journals, edited collections, and online. In addition to his academic work, Joshua also serves as “Music Nerd-in-Residence” for the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, connecting classical music to the broader public through his writing and speaking. He is also an active composer throughout the Cape Fear region with recent performances by the UNCP Percussion Ensemble, Sweet Tea Shakespeare, and as part of the Cape Fear New Music Festival at Methodist University. When he isn't reading, writing, or researching, Joshua likes to play guitar and hang out with his wife and two sons at their home in Fayetteville, NC.

Performer: Mahlea Hunt

Mahlea is the reigning Miss Lumbee.Mahlea is a senior at Wake Forest University where she is majoring in Health and Exercise Science with a minor in Health Policy Administration. Mahlea is a D1 Cheerleader, a member of the HOSA club, an EMS student volunteer, and an advocate for indigenous people on her campus. In March of 2022 Mahlea received the woman of the year award for her university along with many faculty and staff members, including Dr. Maya Angelou. Mahlea is a former Litte, Junior, and Teen Miss Lumbee, which makes her the third woman in history to receive all four titles. Her platform is My Sister’s Keeper: advocating justice and the end of violence for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIW movement).