<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3j9lLJ_1H1aX40H00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3j9lLJ_1H1aX40H00" width="1000" height="667" ><figcaption>Photo by Andy Gobin | The Middlebury Campus</figcaption></figure>On Nov. 7, the Innovation Hub sponsored TEDxMiddlebury 2026 ‘New Horizons’ at the McCullough Student Center in Wilson Hall. The student-led event, held from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., was open to the public, allowing for a community-wide dissemination of ideas and experiences.Grass roots TEDx events are held annually by institutions all around the world as part of TED’s global mission to “research and discover ideas worth spreading.” Each event is not sponsored by TED, rather organizations and institutions rent a license to the TED brand and abide by the spirit of the TED talk format. Middlebury’s first TEDx event was organized in 2010 by former student Chloe Shasha ‘11. Sponsored by the Innovation Hub and administered by a 10-member student board, the Middlebury format combines TED Talks video and live speakers — which include faculty, students and outside experts — to encourage and inspire meaningful community conversations. The board chooses the year’s theme and Oratory Now — a faculty-driven public speaking program — selects the student speaker through a contest. This year’s TEDxMiddlebury theme was ‘New Horizons,’ meant to encourage exploring new beginnings as a normal and necessary part of our lives to see a fresh start as something to embrace, not an unstable transition.This year’s iteration of TEDxMiddlebury featured four speakers, each from distinct paths: Jim Sandman, Professor of Anthropology James Fitzsimmons, Heidi Sulis and student speaker Mack Briglin ‘26.5.Sulis, executive director of the Open Door Clinic, centered her talk on major career and life transitions. After nearly 20 years as the department manager for Porter Medical Center, she had to redirect her career after the department’s closure in 2011, and in 2013 entered the leadership of the Open Door Clinic, a free health clinic serving uninsured or underinsured residents in Addison County.Now, in her 14th year, Sulis has established a dental program, expanded the clinic’s staff, developed several programs, cultivated community support and added a new exam van that has expanded the clinic’s reach to migrant workers alongside a highly committed staff.The second speaker, Fitzsimmons, used his background as a Mesoamerican archaeologist to examine change through the lens of ancient history. He analyzed how the Classic Maya approached death, societal transitions and the very origins of writing. Before coming to Middlebury, he taught at several institutions and held writing fellowships at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections in Washington, D.C. and the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. Directing or taking part in research across a number of countries — including the United States, Belize, Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras — has allowed Fitzsimmons to learn a significant amount regarding the anthropology of death, religious life in ancient Mesoamerica and the origins of writing. He has also authored or edited six books, including “Blood on the Wind: An Uncivil War in Classic Maya Lowlands” which covers one of the worst conflicts in Maya history and its implications for empire.Following Fitzsimmons was Sandman, a former managing partner who spent 30 years at the law firm Arnold &amp; Porter. Later in his career, he served as general counsel of the District of Columbia Public Schools and then was president of the Legal Services Corporation — the United States’ largest funder of civil legal aid. Sandman reflected on pivoting mid-career into public service. He is now a Distinguished Professor of Practice and Public Service at the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he works to transform the legal landscape by making civil justice accessible to low-income Americans. He is also the chair of the District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission, chair of the Executive Committee of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a recipient of American Lawyear’s Lifetime Achievement Award and a past President of the District of Columbia Bar.‘New Horizons’ closed out with Briglin, a Political Science major with minors in French and Education Studies. Briglin focused on cultural and political adaptation shaped by his studies abroad in Cameroon and his time interning for the U.S. Senator for Vermont Peter Welch in Washington, D.C. On campus, Briglin serves as the head public speaking coach with Oratory Now and a senior admissions fellow in the Admission Office. He is a Vermont native, a lifelong baseball fan who spent the summer working for the Boston Red Sox Foundation, and serves as an assistant coach at his former high school, Thetford Academy.TEDXMiddlebury offered refreshments for viewers, reasonably priced tickets and a plethora of new perspectives.</div></body>

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On Nov. 7, the Innovation Hub sponsored TEDxMiddlebury 2026 ‘New Horizons’ at the McCullough Student Center in Wilson Hall. The student-led event, held from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., was open to the public, allowing for a community-wide dissemination of ideas and experiences. Grass roots TEDx events are...

TEDxMiddlebury: looking into new horizons

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On Nov. 7, the Innovation Hub sponsored TEDxMiddlebury 2026 ‘New Horizons’ at the McCullough Student Center in Wilson Hall. The student-led event, held fro

TEDxMiddlebury: looking into new horizons

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