Megan Ward

Educator/Teacher, Event planner

I am passionate about the belief that students should leave college both work-ready AND world-ready. Students spend their entire undergraduate careers producing great work, but are rarely taught how t

Higher education should be free of politics.

To be honest, I did not want to organize a TEDx event. The TEDxUGA Organizer role was handed to me during my second year as a Graduate Assistant and I was resistant and defiant during the entire first year of planning. Initially all I could see was an overwhelming amount of work and a vague reward. I didn’t think my team or our students were capable of pulling it off. Boy was I wrong! After a year of resistance, I fell in love with the TED spirit almost overnight. I have never seen students work so hard and care about something so much and our first event in 2013 was something I will never forget - it changed the trajectory of my entire life, both personal and professional. On the day of our event each year, I am reminded of why we do it, why we endue sleepless nights, why we are such a close TEDx family and how much we offer this university outside of the classroom.