Professional Development Center at Cleveland State University Business

10/13/2026

Twelve speakers. Twelve very different doors into wonder.

From microplastics to music. From attention to belonging. From breathing to water innovation. From law and invention to humor, history, poverty, objects and generational patterns.

This is the 2026 TEDxClevelandStateUniversity speaker lineup — and on October 23, all 12 ideas meet on one stage.

Which talk are you most curious to hear?

UNTANGLING WONDER | Friday, October 23 | Waetjen Auditorium
Tickets: csuohio.edu/tedxclevelandstateuniversity/tickets

10/11/2026

What does poverty look like now — and do our old definitions still capture the crises families are living through?

Sharon Sobol Jordan, president and CEO of United Way of Greater Cleveland, has built a career across public service, nonprofit leadership, technology and community systems.

Her TEDxClevelandStateUniversity talk, “The Evolving Definition of Crisis and Poverty,” asks us to reconsider the language and assumptions we use to understand economic hardship today.

Hear her live October 23 at UNTANGLING WONDER.
Tickets: csuohio.edu/tedxclevelandstateuniversity/tickets

10/09/2026

Picture this: you walk into Waetjen Auditorium with one set of assumptions — and leave with a dozen new questions.

TEDxClevelandStateUniversity is designed for more than passive listening. The day includes pre-event activities, live talks, intermission experiences and a post-event reception — time to encounter ideas and then talk about them with other curious people.

That is the point: not simply to hear something interesting, but to carry the conversation beyond the stage.

October 23 | 3–8 p.m.
Reserve your seat: csuohio.edu/tedxclevelandstateuniversity/tickets

10/07/2026

Before she could fully speak the language, she learned how to make people laugh.

Lidiia Reviakina moved from Ukraine to the United States at age 12. Today, she is a Cleveland State University student, entrepreneur and digital creator whose observational comedy has connected with millions of people.

Her TEDxClevelandStateUniversity talk explores humor as a way to connect across language, culture and uncertainty.

See “Before I Spoke the Language, I Learned to Make People Laugh” live October 23.

Tickets: csuohio.edu/tedxclevelandstateuniversity/tickets

10/07/2026

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10/05/2026

History is more than dates on a page. Sometimes, it has a melody.

Award-winning songwriter Charlie Mosbrook has spent years interpreting the music and stories of American folk traditions. At TEDxClevelandStateUniversity, his talk “History Brought to Life with Song” explores how music can make the past immediate, human and alive.

Hear history differently at UNTANGLING WONDER on October 23.

Tickets: csuohio.edu/tedxclevelandstateuniversity/tickets

10/04/2026

What if you’re struggling to breathe — but every test says your lungs are normal?

For more than 25 years, Cleveland Clinic clinician-scientist Claudio Milstein, Ph.D., has studied patients whose breathing and voice problems defied easy explanations.

At TEDxClevelandStateUniversity, his talk, “Normal Lungs, Struggling to Breathe: The Silent Epidemic,” explores what can happen when medicine keeps asking questions after the obvious answers run out.

Join us October 23 at Waetjen Auditorium for UNTANGLING WONDER and hear the idea live.
https://csuohio.edu/tedxclevelandstateuniversity

09/28/2026

Silicon Valley has technology. Cleveland has water.
Tickets: csuohio.edu/tedxclevelandstateuniversity/tickets

Samantha Martin of the Cleveland Water Alliance asks us to look at one of our region’s greatest assets with new eyes. Her TEDxClevelandStateUniversity talk, “Cleveland: The Silicon Valley of Water,” explores Northeast Ohio’s growing role in water innovation and the opportunities sitting along the shore of Lake Erie.

Sometimes wonder begins by seeing what has been in front of us all along.

Join us October 23 at UNTANGLING WONDER.

09/25/2026

Wonder is not one feeling. It can change how we think, feel, act and understand our place in the world.
Tickets: csuohio.edu/tedxclevelandstateuniversity/tickets

UNTANGLING WONDER explores four dimensions of wonder:
• Cognitive — the drive to understand
• Emotional — fascination, surprise and awe
• Motivational — the impulse to create, explore and act
• Existential — reflection on meaning, purpose and connection

Which kind of wonder pulls you in first?

Join us October 23 for TEDxClevelandStateUniversity.

09/23/2026

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