Viral TED Talk Speaker Bringing Free Lectures to Casper College

Casper College Press Release:

Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D., will be the speaker for the 2023 Grosz Health Science Lecture Series. Bolte Taylor’s presentation is titled “Whole Brain Living” She will give two talks on the topic, the first at 1 and the other at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 6.

According to Jeff McCarty, dean for the Casper College School of Health Science, the Grosz Health Science Lecture Series committee discussed some challenges CC students and the health care workforce face. “There are a lot of buzzwords out there like ‘resilience’ or ‘burnout’ or ‘compassion fatigue,’ and we wanted to have someone talk to us (and the community) about what is happening when we experience these things,” said McCarty.

McCarty came across Bolte Taylor’s 2008 TED talk, the first that ever went viral on the internet and now has over 28.8 million views. After viewing, the committee worked to bring her to Casper College to speak. “Bolte Taylor will bring her knowledge of the brain as a scientist who studies the brain and as a stroke survivor who is thriving after that experience. She will talk about the brain, but will also bring hope to those who may have been impacted by a stroke or traumatic brain injury either personally or within their circle,” McCarty said.

Bolte Taylor is a Harvard-trained and published neuroanatomist who is now affiliated with the Indiana University School of Medicine, Department of Neurology. In 1996 she experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain, causing her to lose the ability to walk, talk, read, write or recall any of her life, according to her biography. The biography noted that her memoir, “My Stroke of Insight,” documents her experience with stroke and eight-year recovery. The book spent 63 weeks on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list.

Bolte Taylor’s second book, released in 2021, is titled “Whole Brain Living: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our Life.” “We are everything,” said Bolte Taylor. “We have so much more power over what’s going on inside of ourselves than we have ever been taught,” she added.

Both of Bolte Taylor’s presentations are free and open to the public and will take place in the Wheeler Concert Hall in the Music Building located on the Casper College campus. The 2023 Grosz Health Science Lecture Series is made possible through Carl and Georgina Grosz’s generosity through the Casper College Foundation.