COE speakers share big ideas at TEDxUGA

A College of Education faculty member, staff member, student and an alumna—Bettina Love, Elizabeth Brantley, Megan Pendleton and Lora Smothers—were among 17 people and groups who shared ideas and performances at the University of Georgia's second annual "TEDxUGA" event.

Love is an assistant professor in the department of educational theory & practice. Her research focuses on the ways in which urban youth negotiate hip-hop music and culture to form social, cultural, and political identities. In her scholarship, she explores new ways of thinking about urban education and culturally relevant pedagogical approaches for urban learners.

Brantley is an event planner for the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development. She hosts more than 1,000 gifted students and their parents on UGA's campus for enriching and fun academic programs each year. Her love for program creation began over a decade ago when she was chosen as a leader for one of the largest summer camps in the country.

Pendleton (MEd '14), who received her master's degree in college student affairs administration from UGA last week, was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Graduating from Lehigh University in 2010, she decided to pursue a career in a field outside of her undergraduate major of study, environmental engineering. For the past five years, she has more fully engaged with the world of spoken word and poetry, and uses her passion for the art form to develop a better sense of self and the world around her.

Smothers (MEd '11) is director of the Freedom to Grow Unschool. She was first drawn to FTGU as an intern while exploring alternative education as part of her graduate study at the UGA College of Education. She earned her master's degree in educational psychology with a focus on gifted education from UGA and a bachelor's in neuroscience from Emory University in Atlanta, where she played basketball for four years.

Modeled after the popular TED Talks, the five-hour event brought about 400 people to the UGA Tate Student Center's Grand Hall on March 28 to hear the speakers and performers, then share their own ideas and impressions.

The idea is to share ideas worth sharing, said UGA journalism professor and director of the New Media Institute Scott Shamp, moderator of the event.