The steering committee of the Conference on Higher Education Values, Identity, Belonging, and Purpose is proud to announce the call for proposals.
We are seeking proposals for our 3rd Annual Conference, taking place virtually Feb. 5-7, 2025.
This year's conference theme is Building the Interdisciplinary Frame: Education, Social Sciences, and the Synthesis of Values, Identity, Belonging, and Purpose.
Interdisciplinary work and research have been a cornerstone of academic practice for over a century, in many cases predating formal disciplinary structure and curricula. Yet, questions continue to emerge about the prominence, effectiveness, and practicality of interdisciplinary work in academic and professional settings, as well as its impact on those engaging in this work.
Recently, various solitary disciplines in higher education have made substantive cuts to faculty, staff, or program majors and course offerings. Many of these diminishing programs or majors are a part of or directly connected to work in education and the social sciences, often in the humanities or other social science fields. Conversely, many emergent disciplines are becoming increasingly popular, often in business, technology, or medical fields. All these disciplines, in conversation with education fields, offer substantial and impactful knowledge for practitioners and scholars alike.
However, in considering values, identity, belonging, and purpose, research on the relationship between these fields and their connections with such outcomes is scant. The exploration and understanding of past, present, and future interdisciplinary efforts and work can serve to establish and strengthen these needed connections.
Examples:
The Call:
We are seeking innovative research, practitioner, and theory-based proposals that address interdisciplinary framing of education and social science work as it intersects with values, identity, belonging, and purpose.
We encourage individuals to explore various aspects related to the theme, including but not limited to:
Proposals are encouraged to interrogate and/or center fresh perspectives on interdisciplinary frameworks and their impact on students, educators, researchers, and administrators.
We encourage submissions that challenge assumptions about and provide nuanced insights into the realities of cross-disciplinary collaboration in academic and professional practice.
We invite those who have contributed to the field to consider submitting proposals around the concepts of values, identity, belonging, and purpose as they connect to the interdisciplinary frame.
To submit a proposal, please click the Conference Program Submission Link
More information about the proposals can be found below in the Program Proposal Guidelines.
As a conference, we strive to be inclusive of all; therefore, we have made a commitment to remain virtual/online in our modality.
Important Dates for the Conference and Submissions
| Sept. 11, 2024 | Call for Programs & Papers Open |
| Sept. 30, 2024 | Conference Registration Opens |
| Oct. 18, 2024 | Program & Paper Proposal Deadline |
| Nov. 18, 2024 | Program Status Notification (by email) |
| Feb. 5-7, 2025 | Virtual Conference |
Program Proposal Guidelines8
Types of Conference Proposals
Choose from one of these program session formats below.
General Interest Session: General interest sessions are traditional program sessions (e.g. workshops) that are 60 minutes, inclusive of Q & A. These proposals should include information about how the presenter(s) plan to include substantive participant interaction during their session.
Scholarly Paper Sessions: These sessions give presenters the opportunity to share innovative research findings and conceptual arguments in the form of scholarly papers. Presenters can share their research findings and facilitate discussions around their research. Scholarly papers include, but are not limited to dissertation theses, published and peer-reviewed articles. In these sessions, papers will be grouped by topic and each session will include 2-3 papers.
Roundtable Discussion: Roundtable discussions are facilitated by the presenter(s) and designed to promote open dialogue around a significant issue/theme. Rather than making a formal presentation, session facilitators will encourage and maintain substantive dialogue. These sessions may include discussion around current issues, works in progress, or around developing practical solutions to pressing issues on a campus or related to enhancing a certain population’s success (for example). Roundtable discussions will be 45 minutes.
Conference Proposal Evaluation
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Relevance to conference theme or to the sense of belonging, identity, and purpose more broadly |
Proposal draws a clear connection to the current conference theme and/or proposal draws a clear connection to historical or contemporary themes including, but not limited to character and identity development, values, ethics, spiritual development, service learning, or related topics. |
| Presentation is grounded in relevant research, assessment, and/or practice. | Presenter(s) have appropriate knowledge of and experience with the subject matter and have done due diligence in researching, planning, and assessing the topic or program being discussed. |
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Practical application to the field |
Proposal establishes learning outcomes and measures to assess those outcomes. Proposal demonstrates participants will gain useful information and/or practical takeaways from presentation attendance. |
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Proposal organization and clarity
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Proposal adheres to program submission guidelines. Presentation title and abstract effectively convey proposal content and draw participant interest. Proposal shares the logical flow of the presentation. Proposal has minimal spelling and grammatical errors. The presenter bio(s) communicate the particular experience and/or expertise of the presenter(s). |
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Overall proposal rating
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Reviewers will provide an overall rating for each program proposal in addition to each individual sub-category |
