AAUP Illinois

AAUP Annual Conference Call for Proposals

Dear Colleague,

"Academic freedom" was still a new idea when John Dewey, Arthur O. Lovejoy, and other prominent scholars organized the American Association of University Professors in 1915. Thanks to the AAUP, academic freedom is now recognized as the fundamental principle of our profession. Despite this acceptance, academic freedom remains vulnerable.

Now, as we prepare for our 2015 Annual Conference on the State of Higher Education, we invite reflection on the history of the AAUP and the future of our core values of academic freedom and shared governance.

We invite presentation proposals on all topics of interest to a diverse, multidisciplinary higher education audience, but special consideration will be given to those that work within the centennial themes:

AAUP History: history of a chapter, a conference, an issue, or a constituency within the AAUP; the changing face of AAUP membership; diversity and AAUP history.
Academic Freedom: how best to protect it for all faculty, current challenges to academic freedom, academic freedom and specific groups (such as librarians or graduate students).
Shared Governance: organizing to defend the faculty voice, its relationship to AAUP chapters, participation by specific groups.

The AAUP Annual Conference on the State of Higher Education will be held June 11–14, 2015, in conjunction with the AAUP Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. Proposals will be accepted through December 10.

Proposal Guidelines

We encourage proposals that raise questions, engage conference participants in discussion, and foster dialogue.

You may propose either a complete session, with multiple participants, or an individual presentation, with one presenter. Individual presentations, if accepted, will be grouped into sessions with other related individual presentations.

Complete sessions may consist of a set of traditional presentations (a panel presentation), followed by Q&A, or may be structured as a roundtable discussion, designed to encourage more audience participation.

Hotel Information

Mayflower Renaissance Washington DC Hotel 1127 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036

Conference Deadlines

December 10, 2014: Deadline to submit a proposal.

January 15, 2015: You will be notified whether your proposal has been accepted. Conference registration opens.

March 15, 2015: Deadline for all presenters to register for the conference and pay applicable registration fees. Sessions will be cancelled if presenters have not registered.

April 1, 2015: Presenters will receive their time slots. Please note that all presentation will be on Thursday, June 11 and Friday, June 12.

Submitting a presentation proposal does not guarantee its acceptance; the AAUP is under no requirement to accept any submission. Submissions should not include defamatory statements or raise other significant legal concerns. We discourage submissions entirely devoted to specific ongoing disputes involving individuals and their institutions. Promotion or criticism of candidates running for office within the AAUP or in local, state, or national elections is not allowed.

To submit a proposal, please use this form.

Questions? E-mail proposal@aaup.org.