TEDx Winnipeg has long been a platform for bold thinkers and passionate speakers to step onto the big stage and share ideas that spark curiosity and influence change.
On May 28, TEDx Winnipeg promises to be a full day of ingenious ideas – and UWinnipeg is proud to celebrate and connect with three alumni who will take the stage to share their unique perspectives. In this Q&A, we caught up with Marika Schalla (BSc 17, BEd 19, PBEd 23), Ian Bawa (BA 08) and Dr. Peter Denton (BAH 80) to see what their talks will be about and how their time at UWinnipeg inspired them to share their ideas.
Marika Schalla (BSc 17, BEd 19, PBEd 23)
What will your TED Talk be about?
My talk is centered on healing, both as a personal journey and as a pathway for others. I will be sharing parts of my own experience of navigating and continuing to recover from trauma, and how that journey has reshaped who I am as a person, educator, and leader.
A central part of that healing has come through my relationship with the Land. I’ve learned teaching is about relationships, balance, and connection. Lessons that don’t just support personal healing but can transform how we approach learning and community. In my talk, I explore how the Land can be a teacher in helping us reconnect with ourselves and with one another.
How have your world experiences been shaped by your connection to UWinnipeg?
My connection to UWinnipeg has been deeply influential in shaping who I am today, both personally and professionally. As a student, I completed three programs there, each one building not only my knowledge, but my sense of purpose as an educator and leader.
My connection to UWinnipeg has been deeply influential in shaping who I am today.
Marika Schalla
UWinnipeg helped me find my voice and continues to create space for me to use it. What has been especially meaningful is that my relationship with UWinnipeg didn’t end when I graduated. I have had the opportunity to return as a guest lecturer and to be part of Faculty of Education events, including the 2025 pinning ceremony. Those experiences have shown me that UWinnipeg continues to uplift and amplify its graduates, recognizing their growth and contributions beyond the classroom.
Ian Bawa (BA 08)
What will your TED Talk be about?
My talk is about my creative journey of how I got into film making. It’s the idea of how to be an artist you have to be vulnerable and find connection with your audience. Actually, it’s about finding connection with your audience and the way I did it was through vulnerability. It’s a bit of a story with a moral. It’s about my life and it starts with the journey of not hiding myself and how being more open to the world allowed me to connect with my audience to make better stories. It’s the story of my life.
UWinnipeg was pretty vital to who I am and what my talk is about.
Ian Bawa
How have your world experiences been shaped by your connection to UWinnipeg?
UWinnipeg is part of my journey. In my talk, I talk about how basically before my mom died, I went to UWinnipeg to be a lawyer. I studied political science and criminal justice, but when I graduated in 2008, I decided that wasn’t for me. I went back to UWinnipeg and studied film making. I made my closest friends at UWinnipeg. The experience of UWinnipeg was pretty vital to who I am and what my talk is about.
Dr. Peter Denton (BA Hons 80)
What does it mean to you to be a TEDx speaker?
TED has long been an important part of my resources for teaching, so I am delighted to have the opportunity to contribute ideas of my own for others to appreciate.
What will your TED Talk be about?
The choices we make about technology both design and define our future. We need to be more thoughtful and intentional about those choices, if we want to solve the problems in our world today. Our choices should reflect our values, what we think is important.
As we debate the potential use of artificial intelligence (AI) in so many different areas, AI pushes us to think about our values, and thus whether its use will lead to outcomes we all want, or not.
How have your world experiences been shaped by your connection to UWinnipeg?
My first degree (in honours History and English) was from UWinnipeg almost 46 years ago. What I learned here about multidisciplinary approaches to important issues was foundational to the four subsequent graduate degrees I completed, each in a different field. I had a very diverse group of professors, all of whom encouraged creativity and demanded excellence.
Their influence has long continued into my own teaching, research, and writing. I’ve returned to UWinnipeg to teach twice now, including two term appointments as Assistant Professor of History, Philosophy and Religious Studies (2001-03), and as contract academic staff after taking early retirement from Red River College in 2015.
Coming back here (UWinnipeg) has always felt like home.
Dr. Peter Denton
Coming back here has always felt like coming home. That family feeling has only grown since my son, Daniel, graduated with a BSc (Hons.) in 2019, and my father, Tom Denton, received an honourary L.L.D. in 2021.
I now teach the history of technology, having redeveloped the course I first taught here in 1999, and have also taught many courses on contract in Philosophy, Sociology and other departments over the past 11 years. The ethical thread that unites them all is a concern for practical, intersectional justice, working toward a sustainable future for all the children of Earth.
Since I first walked into Centennial Hall in 1976, UWinnipeg has always felt like my academic home, wherever else in the world I happened to be. I thoroughly enjoy the colleagues and students I am fortunate to have here, right now, and look forward to meeting more!
For more information on the TEDx Winnipeg event and to see the full line up of speakers, visit the TEDx Winnipeg website.
