Diversity, Learning, and Inclusive Excellence:
Accelerating and Assessing Progress

October 16-18, 2008
Long Beach, California

Call for Proposals

Deadline for submission of proposals:  March 13, 2008

Diversity, Learning, and Inclusive Excellence: Accelerating and Assessing Progress will highlight curricular, co-curricular, and institutional models that enable higher education leaders to develop, implement, assess, and continually learn from the experience of fostering diverse learning environments—environments in which all students develop, in increasingly sophisticated ways, critical knowledge, skills, and capacities for work and citizenship.

The conference aims to help campuses take diversity efforts to the next level of comprehensive, coordinated action, where educational benefits for all students and for the institution more broadly, can be demonstrated in meaningful ways. In this new conceptualization, progress is marked by the integration of diversity and educational quality efforts as well as a move from isolated programs and course offerings to a network of policies and actions, including policies and actions around assessment.

AAC&U’s Network for Academic Renewal invites proposals for sessions that will help colleges and universities fully integrate their diversity and educational quality efforts and embed them into the core of academic mission and institutional functioning.

Please review the entire proposal submission process outlined below to help you decide if this is something that you would like to do.  We look forward to your proposal and participation.

Conference Themes
Writing a Strong Proposal
Session Formats
How to Submit a Proposal
Resources for Attendees of Your Session
Final Reminders
Dates to Remember
Online Proposal Form

Important:  After deciding to submit a proposal, please follow each step of the instructions and contact us if you have questions.  Once you begin the submission form, you will not be able to save the proposal for submission at another time.

Conference Themes

Well-designed diversity efforts can play a critical role in fostering student learning, advancing knowledge, and improving the institutional effectiveness of colleges and universities. Yet signs from inside and outside of the academy—recent transgressions directed at religious, racial/ethnic, and gay/lesbian groups; continuing arguments that a more inclusive curriculum “waters down” essential knowledge; heated debates about immigration; seemingly intractable global conflicts; and widespread initiatives designed to eliminate race and gender as a consideration from public policies—indicate that progress is never a given and that the need for diversity work continues. How the work is done also matters greatly. Too often diversity efforts fall prey to piecemeal approaches or default into “increasing the numbers” of students from underrepresented groups, despite significant inroads into scholarship, the curriculum, pedagogy, and other important areas of institutional functioning.

This contrasts with a comprehensive vision for inclusive excellence, where diversity and educational quality efforts are both inextricably linked and fully embedded into the core of academic mission and institutional functioning.

Themes: The conference is organized around the four key aspects of institutional change for Inclusive Excellence:  vision, policy, design, and assessment, and asks participants to consider how to integrate efforts across all of these domains. The bullets that follow each heading are just a few examples of ways your proposal might explore one of these four aspects. 

Vision:  Re-envisioning diversity and inclusion as comprehensive processes through which institutions achieve excellence in learning is central to preparing all students for life and work in a rapidly changing global context. This comprehensive vision of inclusive excellence also informs scholarship, the curriculum, pedagogy, co-curricular designs, hiring, and other important areas of institutional functioning, and argues for shared responsibility for diversity-related outcomes among all campus constituents. 

• How do institutions grapple with questions of definition when it comes to diversity and inclusive excellence? How are campuses developing “local” definitions and vision statements, engaging a variety of constituents in the process, and communicating the results of these visioning processes? Is there value in having multiple definitions of diversity and inclusion across campus?
• What strategies are campus leaders using to create a comprehensive vision of inclusion and diversity where educational benefits for all students, and for the institution more broadly, can be demonstrated in meaningful ways?
• How is disciplinary inquiry being redefined in light of scholarly investigations and methodologies spurred by diversity, inclusion, and cultural sensitivity?
• How do institutions build shared responsibility for diversity-related outcomes across campus constituents? How are newcomers to the campus community socialized about the value and place of diversity and inclusion?
• How can diverse learning environments help students and others on campus to take seriously the perspectives of others, to negotiate conflict, and to engage in respectful dialogue? How do institutions preserve individual dignity amidst culture clashes and competing points of view?
• How does an institution ensure that all members of the campus community are deriving benefits from comprehensive diversity efforts? In particular, what aspects of diversity enhance the academic achievement of historically underserved students, including first generation students, low-income students, and students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups?

Policy: New policies and strategies for inclusive excellence are essential to move campuses from isolated diversity programs and course offerings to a comprehensive process that incorporates diversity into all aspects of campus life and engages diversity in the service of student and organizational learning. 

• What strategies are campus leaders using to increase the scale and scope of diversity efforts on campus? What models or frameworks have been helpful?
• How do diversity efforts evolve when the scale and scope is increased?
• How does a comprehensive vision of diversity and inclusion influence strategic planning, budget processes, and conversations about institutional and academic excellence?
• Conversely, how do policies and strategies related to diversity and inclusion change in light of conversations about academic excellence and student and organizational learning?
• How are campuses utilizing hiring processes to extend the reach of diversity efforts? What can institutions do to ensure that faculty and staff from underrepresented groups are not only retained, but also succeeding at high levels?
• How can rewards and incentives—including promotion and tenure—spur more campus constituents to join in diversity efforts on campus?  How are part time and full time non-tenure faculty members being included in diversity efforts?

Design: Designing the curriculum and co-curriculum with intentionality and coherence can help students develop sophisticated knowledge, skills, and abilities related to diversity and utilize these capacities in new settings and to answer new questions. 

• What student learning and development outcomes are produced and/or enhanced by thoughtful engagement with diversity?
• What do we know about the connection between diversity and cognitive complexity, critical thinking, intercultural understanding, moral discernment, and civic commitment?
• What sort of diversity learning matters in different majors? What sort of learning about diversity should all students encounter?
• What curricular and co-curricular models have demonstrated effectiveness in engaging students with difference?
• How can institutions help students apply the learning associated with diversity to new settings and to solve problems, particularly those associated with contemporary challenges facing us locally, nationally, and globally?
• How can campuses ensure that diversity learning is more than a one-time encounter for students? What kinds of sequencing or layering of experiences help students develop increasing sophistication in diversity-related outcomes over time?

 Assessment: Assessing the impact of diversity and inclusion on student learning and institutional effectiveness can help campuses determine if they are truly helping students develop the foundation and skills for lifelong learning and meaningful action in a culturally complex and inequitable world.

• How are institutions using assessment and evaluation related to diversity to inform institutional change and to better integrate the work of departments, academic affairs, and student affairs?
• How are campuses richly assessing the impact of diversity on student learning and development?
• What assessment designs help us understand how students apply the learning associated with diversity to new settings and problems? 
• What evidence exists that diversity learning will help graduates be effective in helping to build economically and environmentally sustainable local and global communities and aid in the struggle for justice?
• What evidence exists about “what works” to enhance underserved student achievement and how are campus leaders building institutional reform around this evidence? Do particular pedagogical practices or program components make an appreciable difference in helping underserved students achieve at high levels across a variety of outcomes? 
• What processes exist to monitor and evaluate diversity efforts in a variety of settings on campus? What types of success indicators are used in different units, departments, and functional areas?

Writing a Strong Proposal

The proposal consists primarily of three parts: a session title, a brief session description (150 words), and a longer abstract (preferred length 600 words). Your proposal should be clear and concise and your session title should accurately reflect your session content. Experts in the field and AAC&U staff will review all proposals. Reviewers will look favorably upon proposals that (1) offer theories, research findings, practical models, and/or strategies that reflect one of the conference themes and have proven effective, (2) are innovative, and (3) identify the intended audience and goals for the session (including what attendees will gain from going to the session).

Tips

• Consider how your work might be useful to individuals at different types of institutions and/or those serving different student populations.
• Indicate if your session will: (1) combine the work of more than one institution, (2) illustrate perspectives of different organizational roles (e.g., faculty, department chairs, student affairs educators, academic advisors, librarians, students), or (3) focus on a specific audience. We particularly welcome student perspectives on your work and models of collaboration. 
• Include facilitators who bring diverse perspectives and life experiences to the topic or issue your proposal addresses. AAC&U is committed to presenting conferences where sessions and participants reflect the pluralism of our campus communities. 
• Show how your session will be interactive. In AAC&U Network meetings, participants are actively engaged in discussion and activities during sessions. Please do not plan to read a paper. 
• Provide a clear sense of how your session will unfold and be prepared to discuss what worked, what did not, and how you addressed challenges along the way.
• Avoid “show and tell” submissions that have little or no applicability to other institutions.
• Present work that has proven effective and is well beyond the planning stages.

Below is a sample session title and description that clearly states the issue to be explored, provides supporting evidence, and discusses what participants should expect from their attendance.  Your abstract should provide greater detail about these aspects of the session.

Searching for Faculty of Color and Sustaining their Presence on Campus
Recent studies have shown that institutional context affects not only searches for faculty of color but also the socialization processes through which these faculty members negotiate their own cultural backgrounds alongside newly forged identities within the academy. In this session, the facilitators will: (a) highlight emerging practices at institutions that successfully recruit and sustain faculty of color; (b) recommend strategies for institutions to increase the presence of faculty of color; and (c) share a set of socialization experiences of linguistic-minority women faculty. Participants will explore implications for creating a “multi-contextual” campus culture that validates the importance of different ways of thinking and learning, and they will share their own institutional experiences and promising strategies related to the recruitment and success of faculty of color.

Session Formats

There are four session formats from which to choose:  (1) workshop, (2) seminar (research information/model/discussion sessions), (3) poster/demonstration, and (4) roundtable discussion.  Please select the format that will best facilitate participants’ understanding and potential use of your work.  One way to effectively engage participants across the different formats is to have them explore ways to apply your information and resources to their own institutional and professional settings. 

Workshop (90 minutes; two or three facilitators; room set in roundtables to support active learning)
Workshops provide participants an opportunity to engage the facilitator and each other in learning about the session topic and applying it to their unique situations.  Workshops should begin with a brief framing of an issue, theory, model, or process and include data, benchmarks and challenges, practical examples, and evidence that you and the participants can then use to examine and discuss the topic.  If you are sharing a campus-based project, provide an opportunity for workshop participants to apply the concepts to their own situations.  For example, if your work takes place at a research university, please facilitate discussion among participants as to how community colleges, liberal arts colleges, and comprehensive institutions might adapt your work to account for institutional differences. You might organize the participants into discussion groups by institution type or stage in the process (novice, intermediate, advanced) of work being addressed.  If your work is better suited to a particular type of institution or level of engagement, please make that clear. 

Proposals should: 

1. state clearly the problem or issue that you will address and to which theme it relates
2. indicate how your work has effectively addressed that problem or issue
3. indicate the outcomes participants should expect from your session and examples of how you will facilitate achievement of those outcomes 
4. describe the strategies you will use to engage participants in discussing, analyzing, synthesizing, and applying the information you will share
5. describe how your work might be applied to a particular or multiple sectors of higher education, i.e. large universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges; describe the level to which your session is geared (novice, intermediate, advanced)
6. include links to relevant Web sites or electronic copies of the materials you will share (electronic copies of materials can be provided later)
7. include time for participants to discuss how the work might be used to achieve the stated goals or outcomes

Seminar (Research information/model/discussion sessions) (75 minutes; two or three facilitators; room set in roundtables)
This session should allow 20 minutes to provide research findings or overview of a model, 35 minutes to provide practical applications; and 20 minutes for participant discussion.  Research information or models of institutional reform or assessment can stimulate creative problem-solving discussions.  Research session proposals should state the underlying research hypothesis, a brief explanation of the methodology, and a summary of the findings.  Practical applications should provide concrete steps for using the research to affect change.  Data, findings, and applications should be presented in ways that are accessible to participants and allow them to engage in a discussion about the implications of your findings.  Models might be presented visually as well as verbally and include strategies for implementation.

Proposals should:

1. state the hypothesis/problem your research addresses or describe the model
2. identify the theme that you will address
3. describe briefly the methodology and the parameters of the study
4. provide visual means of presenting findings and applications (e.g. handouts)
5. include time for participants to discuss the implications of the findings and applications

Poster/Demonstration Sessions (60 minutes; one or two facilitators; 6 X 3 foot skirted table; electrical connections and other supports provided as available upon request)
Poster/demonstration sessions lend themselves well to combining visual displays of key information with written and verbal presentations and small group interaction to create a more individualized learning experience.  These sessions provide an opportunity for you to share your work with the full conference audience and they are a valuable way to initiate conversations with those of similar interest. These sessions can include 3’x 4’ boards to display visual charts, diagrams, pictures, graphs, etc. that demonstrate key findings.  They might also present the information through technological means or other types of visual displays that can be set-up on the 6’x3’ table provided. 

Proposals should:

1. clearly state the problem or issue that your display will address and to which theme it relates
2. indicate how your work has effectively addressed that issue
3. describe the visual data, display, etc. that you will provide including any special requests for technical assistance
4. indicate how the data or information will be useful to a particular or multiple sectors of higher education
5. include links to relevant Web sites or electronic copies of the materials you will share (copies of materials can be provided later)
6. include students or student perspectives in your presentation where relevant

NOTE:  Our ability to provide technical assistance is limited, but if you have a project for which you need such assistance, we are happy to explore the options with you.  Poster boards are provided upon request. 

Roundtable Discussions (60 minutes; one or two facilitators; roundtable of 10 during continental breakfast; no audio visual)
Roundtables are facilitated discussions among colleagues with a common interest.  They provide a valuable forum to network and reflect upon important topics in an informal setting.  Roundtable discussions may take one of the following approaches:

• Topic discussion/theoretical construct:  The facilitator briefly presents a topic of general interest and uses this opportunity to explore issues relevant among colleagues from a variety of positions and institutions to uncover new ways of thinking about shared interests.
• Case study/practice/strategy:  The facilitator prefaces the discussion with a brief overview of her/his work and a handout that includes a longer description, theory, data, models, bibliography, or other resources.  She/he may pose or invite a question to stimulate and/or focus the conversation so that others can share their own experience with the issue

Proposals should:

1. describe clearly the topic, theory, or practice that you will present for discussion, why it is compelling for those in higher education to address this issue, and to which theme it relates
2. indicate your experience in addressing the issue including the benchmarks of success, challenges, and outcomes of your work
3. indicate the outcomes participants should expect from the discussion and examples of how you will prompt and sustain conversation to achieve those outcomes
4. include links to relevant Web sites or electronic copies of the materials you will share (electronic copies of materials can be provided later)
5. include students or student perspectives where relevant

How to Submit a Proposal

Electronic Submission
Please submit your proposal online by filling in each field of the submission form as directed.  If you cannot submit the proposal electronically or encounter technical difficulties, please contact Siah Annand at Annand@aacu.org or 202.387.3760 ext. 802.

Deadline
Please submit your proposal by Midnight Pacific Time, Thursday, March 13, 2008.

Notification
You should receive an automatic message indicating receipt of your proposal when submitted.  If you do not receive this message, we may not have received your proposal.  Please send an e-mail to Siah Annand at Annand@aacu.org to confirm receipt of proposal.

Acceptance
You will receive notification about the status of your proposal by Wednesday, April 30, 2008.

Registration Fees
All session facilitators at the conference are responsible for the appropriate conference registration fees, travel, and hotel expenses.  Please be sure all individuals in your proposal have this information and can be available to present at any time throughout the event.  Presentation times range from Thursday, October 16, 2008 beginning at 8:30 p.m. through Saturday, October 18, 12:00 noon.

Resources for Attendees of Your Session

Conference participants like to have resource materials to help them implement and/or share new ideas when they return to campus.  Please plan to bring 75 handouts for a workshop, research, or poster session and 15 for a roundtable discussion.  We strongly encourage facilitators to provide online resources in advance of the conference; this increases the potential for active participation in your session. 

Online Resources for Your Session
If your proposal pertains to a project, program, course, or other feature for which there is (or will be) descriptive materials available on the Web or electronically, please provide the URL address or e-document with your proposal, (or when they become available before the conference).  AAC&U’s Web site will include these links when we post the program.  After the conference, all presenters will be asked to provide electronic copies of their resources so that AAC&U can make them available to conference participants.

Final Reminders

Please complete all fields including information pertaining to all additional facilitators.

• Please include links to supplemental materials, if available.
• Please remember that by submitting a proposal, you agree to:
• Register and pay conference fees if the proposal is accepted
• Inform your co-facilitators about the proposal’s status and the need for all facilitators to pay the conference registration fees and be available throughout the event to present your work as scheduled.

Dates to Remember

• Thursday, March 13, 2008:  Proposals due to AAC&U
• Wednesday, April 30, 2008  Proposal acceptance notification
• May 1, 2008:  Conference registration materials available online

MEETING LINKS

About the Conference:
  Overview
  Partners
 

Submit a Proposal:
  About the CFP
 

Podcasts

Conference Features:
  Schedule at a Glance
  Program Highlights
  Workshops
 

Registration:
  Information
  Register Online
  Reg Form (pdf)
  Hotel Details
 

Past Meetings:
 2006 Meeting
 2004 Meeting
 2002 Meeting
 

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