2025 ENTERTAINMENT

MICHELE STAMN

Michele Stamn is a plant-based health coach and physical therapist with over 30 years of experience helping people take charge of their health. As the founder of Wellness Empowered Plant-Based Health Coaching, she guides people in building a plant-based lifestyle that’s sustainable and joyful - without the stress or overwhelm. Her approach is practical and encouraging, rooted in the belief that plant-based eating truly can be doable, delicious, and fun - full of flavorful meals, lasting habits, and real results.

Time: 12 - 1 pm

  • If you’re curious about plant-based eating - or if you’ve tried before and felt stuck - this practical and inspiring talk will show you a better way. You’ll learn a powerful 3-step framework to shift your mindset, enjoy your food, and handle real-life situations with ease. Walk away with doable strategies, fresh motivation, and the confidence to create lasting health through a plant-based lifestyle that’s truly doable, delicious, and fun.

MADELINE KRASNO

Madeline Krasno is a former primate laboratory worker and a dedicated advocate for transparency and compassion in scientific research. Her landmark free speech lawsuits against her alma mater, the University of Wisconsin–Madison (appeal pending), and the National Institutes of Health (appeal won), have been featured in The Washington Post and helped bring national attention to the ethical challenges of animal experimentation. As Executive Director of Justify, Madeline leads a nonprofit organization committed to advancing science without human or animal suffering by building a compassionate and knowledgeable community for animal lab workers to process their experiences and advocate for change. She holds a master’s degree in humane education from Valparaiso University and dual bachelor’s degrees in zoology and child development from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. You can read her Capital Times op-ed, I worked at the UW primate lab, and the inhumanity still haunts me, here.

Time: 2 - 3 pm

  • Join UW–Madison alum Madeline Krasno for a powerful talk about her time working in the university’s primate lab, the trauma it caused, and the decision to speak out. Her journey led to free speech lawsuits against UW–Madison and the NIH—challenging censorship around the ethics of animal research—and to the founding of Justify, the only organization in the world led by former lab workers and dedicated to supporting others from the animal research industry. This talk will explore the often-overlooked human cost of animal research—and what it means to build a future in science rooted in empathy, transparency, and integrity.

AARON YARMEL

Dr. Aaron Yarmel is the Associate Director of the Center for Ethics and Human Values (CEHV) at The Ohio State University, where he oversees all programming and leads dialogue facilitation and skill building efforts. He also directs Ohio State’s Philosophy for and with Children Academy. He holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an MSc in Philosophy of Science from the London School of Economics, and a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music. Aaron's research focuses on philosophy for children, AI ethics, social change, and two-level utilitarianism. He is the founding director of Philosophy Counseling and Consulting, offering dialogue facilitation training and philosophical counseling in the Logic-Based Therapy tradition. At Ohio State, Aaron teaches "Conversations on Morality, Politics, and Society" and various ethics courses. He serves on the board of directors of the Philosophy, Learning, and Teaching Organization (PLATO) and on the editorial boards of Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis. Outside of his academic work, Aaron has been a vegan and animal rights activist for 14 years, frequently giving talks and workshops about animal ethics, social movement theory, and dialogue facilitation at activist conferences, universities, and festivals.

Time: 3:45 - 5 pm

  • Dialogue about any topic requires us to be open to learning from people who disagree with us. But performing false humility when we really are certain about the immorality of animal exploitation, the legitimacy of animal rights, and the benefits of veganism comes across as inauthentic to others and does a disservice to ourselves and the animals for whom we advocate. In this talk, we will explore an approach to dialogues about veganism that allows for a genuine openness to learning across disagreements without compromising authenticity. This approach is based on the 4Cs of Civil Discourse that emerged from the work of Dr. Yarmel and his colleagues at The Ohio State University.