CONWAY -- Twice in three years, University of Central Arkansas trustees asked Tom Courtway to guide the school through a crisis -- whether of money or morale -- and become the university's interim president. In 2011, he dropped the "interim" title and became UCA's 10th president.
So it was fitting that Courtway was the first speaker at the university's maiden TEDx event, or "salon," as followers of the global, nonprofit group promoting the exchange of ideas call each gathering. This one focused on Courtway's passion for history and the legacy of leadership.
TEDx is the locally organized version of TED, which started in 1984 and stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. Today, TED "covers almost all topics ... in more than 100 languages," according to its website ted.com. Each salon consists of "short, powerful" videotaped talks of no more than 18 minutes.
Courtway chose to share a videotaped TED talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose books include biographies of several presidents. Among them are Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon B. Johnson, men who lived a century apart but had much in common.
"They had great ambition, unbelievable ambition," Courtway told an audience of faculty, students and staff. Both endured adversities, said Courtway, who added his own favorite president, Harry Truman, to the discussion.
"They also persevered," Courtway said.
Both Courtway and Goodwin stood on a TED talks' trademark red carpet during their presentations.
Courtway said Lincoln was "fairly modest," but "was an amazing communicator."
Each time Courtway goes to Washington, he said, he visits the Lincoln Memorial and reads the 16th president's Gettysburg Address -- "three minutes, 272 words."
Courtway listed the qualities he believes future leaders can learn from these former presidents -- among them, "Work extremely hard. ... Don't be afraid to learn new things. ... Listen. ... Know that every word matters. ... Be firm in your commitments."
Courtway ended his presentation with the final few minutes of documentary filmmaker Ken Burns' interview with historian David McCullough, whose newest book is The Wright Brothers, the story of aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright.
Shelley Mehl, UCA's associate vice president for Outreach and Community Engagement, said the university plans an all-day TEDx conference titled "Ideas Whose Time Has Come." That event is set for March 12. A conference focusing on addiction is scheduled in October, she said.
Mehl told the audience that UCA hopes people will send ideas for the March event, that suggestions should be relevant to the university community and hopes that people apply to participate in the presentations.
UCA may invite some speakers, including successful alumni, to complete applications to make presentations, she said later.
TEDx events are subject to some TED rules, Mehl said. While the discussions can focus on almost any subject, she said, some are off-limits.
Prohibited topics include "pseudoscience" and "talks with an inflammatory political or religious agenda," according to ted.com.
Speakers are not paid, and videotaped talks are shared around the world via the TEDx Talks YouTube channel.
Previous TED speakers have included Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, anthropologist Jane Goodall, author Elizabeth Gilbert and British businessman Richard Branson, according to a UCA news release.
Kandace Keeney, who also works in Outreach and Community Engagement, came up with the idea to start a TEDx salon at the Conway-based university.
Other central Arkansas salons include the Conway-based TEDxHendrixCollege and the Little Rock-based TEDxMarkhamSt.
P. Allen Smith, an author and professional gardener with his own television program, spoke earlier this year at the Little Rock salon, which met in the Ron Robinson Theater in the River Market District.
State Desk on 09/30/2015