Modeling Equity, Engaging Difference:
New Frameworks for Diversity and Learning
Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel, Baltimore, MD
October 18-20, 2012
Call for Proposals
The deadline for proposal submission was Wednesday, February 29, 2012. Those who submitted proposals will receive notification of their status in April. Questions may be directed to Siah Annand at Annand@aacu.org.
Writing a Strong Proposal
Proposal Format
Proposals are accepted through an online form and consist of a session title (100 character limit), statement of the intended audience (100 word limit), participant outcomes (100 word limit), plan for participant engagement (150 word limit), background and description of work (150 word limit), and a brief abstract to be used in the final conference program if the proposal is accepted (150 words). You will be asked to select a session format and theme. In addition, the form will ask for the name, title, institution, and email address of each facilitator.
Proposal Review
Experts in the field and AAC&U staff will review all proposals and make final selections.
Reviewers will look favorably upon proposals that:
- Include facilitators who bring diverse perspectives to the topic your proposal addresses.
- Reflect sound theory, research, strategies, and models that have proven effective and reflect established visions or models for change.
- Provide a clear sense of how the session will unfold, examine lessons learned, and offer effective approaches for advancing change and overcoming challenges when participants return to campus. “Show and tell” submissions with little or no applicability to other institutions will not be considered.
Conference Themes
The conference will follow four themes:
Theme I: Linking Diversity and Learning in New Contexts
Theme II: Designing Intercultural Courses, Curricula, and Campus Climates
Theme III: Diversifying, Supporting, Rewarding Faculty and Student Affairs Educators
Theme IV: Pathways to Equity and Excellence
The questions that follow each theme are suggestive and are not meant to cover the full range of topics that may be proposed within the theme.
Theme 1: Linking Diversity and Learning in New Contexts
- What elements define diversity in higher education today? How are campuses attending to both domestic and international facets of diversity? To multiple, intersecting, and sometimes contradictory, dimensions of identity? To individual, group, and systemic issues?
- What markers of difference do not receive sufficient attention in campus discussions about diversity? How should they be addressed?
- What are the pathways that bridge the diversity, civic, and global learning movements? How can we more frankly acknowledge, better understand, and reduce the tensions among them?
- What are student’s perceptions and assumptions about diversity? What are their attitudes toward learning about diversity? Do these understandings and attitudes differ across groups?
- What does recent research tell us about students’ intercultural development? About their experiences with diverse peers and with perspectives different from their own?
- Many of today’s students believe themselves to be culturally sensitive and astute, yet their words and behaviors can reflect a lack of awareness about or empathy toward others or about historical inequities experienced by communities in the U.S. and abroad. How can educators deepen students’ understanding of the connections between diversity and equity, diversity and history, and individuals and systems?
Theme 2: Designing Intercultural Courses, Curricula, and Campus Climates
- How are campuses addressing histories of inclusion and exclusion and rich and varied cultural perspectives in different disciplinary contexts? How are campuses making issues of diversity and democracy an integral part of general education, the majors, and the co-curriculum?
- What practices are enabling students to learn from diverse peers inside and outside of the classroom?
- What educational experiences are challenging students to think in more complex ways about history, culture, identity, and power relationships? How are they being assessed and how are the findings being used to inform current practices?
- How can we better align standards of excellence with new models of collaborative learning, service learning, and community engagement?
- How are academic affairs and student affairs educators partnering to advance diversity and intercultural learning across the campus?
- What curricular models are proving effective in fostering respectful engagement with cultures and perspectives very different from one’s own AND the study of socially enforced inequalities? What evidence of their effectiveness exists?
- How are campus leaders intentionally shaping the larger campus climate to provide a supportive educational environment for students in all of their complexity and diversity? How are campuses creating space for students to productively and meaningfully engage difference, including differences that may be unfamiliar or challenging to their own beliefs and values?
Theme 3: Diversifying, Supporting, Rewarding Faculty and Student Affairs Educators
- What are successful models that campuses have put in place to not just diversify faculty and student affairs, but also to shape affirmative and supportive campus environments?
- How are adjunct faculty included in discussions about diversity and learning, equity, and excellence?
- In what ways are campuses supporting faculty and student affairs educators in addressing contemporary diversity debates and dimensions in their teaching and programmatic work?
- How are faculty and student affairs educators learning about intercultural development and how to organize the curriculum and co-curriculum to foster this development in students?
- Are there new pedagogies that are a better match for the different ways in which today’s students learn and if so, what kinds of professional development are being used to advance them?
- How are faculty and staff being evaluated and rewarded for their efforts to connect diversity with learning, equity with excellence in the classroom, campus, and community?
Theme 4: Pathways to Equity and Excellence
- How are campuses linking diversity, inclusion, and equity initiatives in order to redefine notions of academic excellence? How are institutional leaders shaping their missions to contribute to building more inclusive, just, and democratic communities? How are administrators being prepared to address issues of power, privilege, and institutional change?
- What “next level” models exist to advance the learning success of historically underrepresented students of color, first-generation students, and low-income students? How are these programs being scaled up to reach more students and to focus on those outside the margins of our economic, social and cultural systems? What culturally inclusive and culturally specific models show promise?
- How are campus leaders finding and allocating resources to redesign the classroom and co-curricular activities in ways that model inclusion and equity?
- How are campuses acting as change agents for policy and legislation that support diversity-related campus endeavors and students who might not otherwise be able to attend college?
- How are faculty, student affairs educators, and students advancing campus community partnerships to develop solutions to pressing problems of inequity and injustice in local, national, and global contexts?
- How are the new financial realities of higher education influencing comprehensive efforts to make excellence inclusive and how are campus leaders addressing related challenges?
Session Formats
There are three session formats from which to choose: (1) Interactive Session, (2) Poster Demonstration, and (3) Facilitated Discussion. Please select the format that will advance participants’ understanding and potential use of your work.
Format 1: Interactive Session (75 or 90 minutes; 2-3 facilitators; room set in round tables)
Interactive sessions provide an opportunity for the facilitators to significantly engage participants in active learning about the session topic. Sessions should begin with a brief framing of the topic and an overview of intended activities and goals for the session. Facilitators should introduce one or more models or strategies that have proved effective and provide data/findings related to the topic, benchmarks for success, common challenges, and practical examples that enhance participants’ learning. Facilitators should specifically take participants through one or more relevant exercises or activities (including in small groups) that will help them to move their own efforts forward upon returning to campus.
Format 2: Poster Sessions (60 minutes; 1-2 facilitators; 6’x3’ skirted table; internet access, electrical outlet, and other supports as available, upon request)
Poster sessions lend themselves well to combining visual displays of key information with written materials 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 colleagues with similar interests. These sessions can include 3’x 4’ boards to display charts, diagrams, pictures, and/or graphs that depict program components, findings, samples of student work, participant testimony, and so on. You may also wish to present information through technological means or other types of visual displays that can be set-up on the 6’x3’ table provided.
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 options with you. Poster boards are provided upon request.
Format3: Facilitated Discussions (60 minutes; 1-2 facilitators; room set in round tables; no audio-visual)
Facilitated discussions provide time for colleagues to share expertise and experiences on a topic of similar interest. The facilitator briefly presents information on a topic related to one of the conference themes and assists the group in examining issues of interest and new ways of thinking about the topic. She/he can provide or invite a question to stimulate and focus the conversation so that others can share their own experiences using the particular practice or strategy.
Become A LEAP Featured Session
Conference sessions designated as “LEAP Featured Sessions” are intended to highlight the innovative work of colleges and universities that are members of AAC&U’s LEAP Campus Action Network (CAN). Featured Sessions make explicit links between campus-based educational reform and the essential learning outcomes, principles of excellence, and high-impact practices described in AAC&U’s Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative.
For more information on applying to have your conference session designated as a LEAP Featured Session, visit www.aacu.org/leap/can/FeaturedSessions.cfm.
Submitting a Proposal
The deadline for proposal submission is midnight Wednesday, February 29, 2012. Proposals should be submitted through the online form, available in January. Please direct any questions to Siah Annand at annand@aacu.org.
Notification
Upon submission of your proposal, you should receive an automatic message indicating that we have received your proposal. If you do not receive this message, please e-mail Siah Annand at annand@aacu.org to confirm that we have received your proposal.
Acceptance
You will receive notification about the status of your proposal in April 2012.
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 18, 2012 beginning at 8:00 p.m. through Saturday, October 20 at 12:00 noon.
Final Reminders
Please complete all fields in the submission form including title and contact information for all additional facilitators.
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
- February 29, 2012: Proposals due to AAC&U
- April, 2012: Proposal acceptance notification
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