Call for Proposals: ADP/TDC 2014 National Meeting in Louisville

American Democracy Project and The Democracy Commitment
2014 Joint National Meeting

“Forging Civic Pathways for Students Between Our Institutions”
Thursday, June 5, 2014 to Saturday, June 7, 2014
Marriott Louisville Downtown • Louisville, Kentucky

Please join us in Louisville, Kentucky for the American Democracy Project’s (ADP) 12th annual national meeting and The Democracy Commitment’s (TDC) 4th annual national meeting at the Marriott Louisville Downtown.

The meeting begins on Thursday, June 5 with a series of meetings and workshops, a campus and friends showcase, a late afternoon opening plenary, and a reception; it concludes with a dinner Saturday evening, June 7.

Announcing the Call for Proposals:

The deadline for presentation proposal submissions is Sunday, February 16, 2014 at 11:59 PM Eastern. All proposals will be reviewed and notification of proposal status will be sent out no later than Monday, March 10, 2014.

The description of the meeting’s theme can be found below. Please note that we have a variety of session types and formats; they are also listed below.

If you are interested in making a presentation at the ADP/TDC 2014 National Meeting, please complete and submit this online Call for Proposals (CFP) form:
http://proposalspace.com/calls/d/312

Important Notes:

With the online submission form you can:

• save partially completed proposals to finish later, and
• print your proposal and access it once completed.

Through the online submission form you must:

• have a presenter submit the proposal, and
• create a username and password in the ProposalSpace system for each presenter included in the proposal. (All presenters’ information must be entered before submitting a proposal. They cannot be added after the proposal is submitted.)

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ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

The ADP/TDC National Meeting is an annual conference that brings together 600 attendees, including provosts, other administrators, faculty members, students and community partners. The focus of each annual meeting is on sharing civic learning and engagement ideas, best practices, research and curricular and co-curricular programs.

The conference structure includes four plenary sessions, a poster session, a series of concurrent sessions, workshops, lightning rounds, teaching demonstrations, panels and round table discussions with multiple presenters.

Each year a meeting theme is chosen around which a variety of speakers and sessions are dedicated. Please note, however, that while we seek proposals that address the meeting theme we also welcome all proposals related to broader civic learning and engagement topics.

The 2014 meeting theme is “Forging Civic Pathways for Students Between Our Institutions” and addresses the many ways in which we foster and might build more coherent civic learning and engagement experiences for students on our own campuses and transferring between our two-year and four-year institutions.

Meeting Theme:

Both the American Democracy Project (ADP) and The Democracy Commitment (TDC) share a deep commitment to ensuring that our students are prepared not only for careers but for lives of informed, engaged citizenship. We also share many of the same students. More than 50 percent of AASCU’s graduates began their college careers in local community colleges. Our two-year and four-year campuses share not only the same students but also serve the same communities.

However, far too often, our two sets of institutions—two-year and four-year schools—do not share the same civic resources, do not offer articulated academic programs, and do not pursue the same strategies to help our students become and remain civically engaged during their college education. As a result, our shared students often experience a disconnected set of civic learning and engagement programs as they move from our two-year to four-year institutions. The challenge of articulation between lower-division and upper-division also impacts civic education.

As partners in the work of preparing citizens, TDC and ADP are committed to bridging these gaps between our institutions by intentionally building programs and processes designed to create clear pathways by which students can connect civic learning and community engagement through their baccalaureate program of study. To achieve that goal, beginning this year, ADP and TDC will collaborate in the design and development of civic programs that work. In the process of building smoother, more articulated civic pathways through college we will learn from one another about high impact civic learning and engagement practices and improve our own programs and practices.

Creating Civic Pathways:

• helps students experience a non-disjointed education
• fosters collaboration in working with community organizations and partners
• assists two-year and four-year institutions to learn from each other in developing programs that are highly effective without reinventing the wheel
• enhances transfer and articulation relationships between and among our schools

Potential topics based on the meeting theme might include:

• two-year/four-year articulation/transfer agreements in civic education
• joint community partnerships and agreements
• shared civic learning and engagement programs and curricula
• civic partnerships with K-12
• discipline-specific 2+2 (+3) programs
• civic learning and engagement programs that enhance certificate or degree completion
• methods of developing civic pathway programs and approaches
• challenges and barriers to building civic pathways

Join us in Louisville and share your ideas, projects and experiences that bridge the gap between the civic work of our two-year and four-year campuses. We look forward to seeing you there!

Please note: Meeting registration will open soon! Early-bird registration rates will be the same as last year’s rates.

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2014 PRESENTATION FORMATS

As you are filling out the CFP form, keep in mind that your proposal is what we will use to determine your presentation theme and session category. Spend time making sure all your information is correct, all your presenters (or at least the correct number of presenter placeholders) are accounted for, and that the proposal you submit reflects what and how you will be presenting in June.

If you are not completely satisfied with your proposal, you can save it and come back later to finish.

Session Formats

While you may not choose the presentation format that your proposal will be categorized as, you may frame your proposal to increase the chances that your presentation will be given a particular session type.

The following are the session/presentation format types that into which the conference organizers will be categorizing accepted proposals (times indicated are subject to change per scheduling needs):

• Poster Presentation
  This 45 minute session allows for one-on-one interaction between a presenter and a participant. By using a 24” x 36” poster that visually displays an idea, program, project, or event, presenters will be able to give and receive immediate feedback, and create relationships with participants of similar interests.
• Lightning Round
  A moderated presentation session driven by quick, succinct PowerPoints. Following in the vein of the Pecha Kucha model, (although we give you a little more time than 6 minutes and 40 seconds) each presenter has 10 minutes to hit the salient points of a program, project, event, or idea. This session format elicits dialogue around a particular theme after the five individual theme-related presentations have been given in succession. PowerPoint presentations must be turned in to the national office two weeks prior to the conference.
• Concurrent Presentation
  A longer format session between 30 and 60 minutes, concurrent presentations are perfect for multiple presenters who are together submitting one collaborative proposal, as each presentation receives approximately 20 minutes of speaking time, followed by immediate and individualized Q&A.
• Teaching Demonstration
  Step into a civically engaged classroom and see how one faculty member is making it work. These 40 minute sessions give a taste of what it is like to be a student in a classroom enhanced by democratic learning.
• Round Table Discussion
  Presenter-facilitated discussion based on big-picture issues, campus or regional scenarios, or topics that need problem solving or input from other meeting participants in an intimate setting.  Example: How to implement engagement in and out of the classroom surrounding veterans’ education to encourage more involvement and understanding from veterans and civilians alike.
• Workshop
  Highly interactive, these sessions work through best practices that will enhance civic engagement in the classroom, on campus, and in the community. Learn from those who have already done it, and gain useful, practical, hands-on experience so you can implement those same strategies on your own campus.These 90 minute sessions do not merely tell of an experience, program, or event, but teach participants how to do it themselves through dynamic activities and materials.
• Panel
  Listen to expert panelists as they talk about a particular topic or issue. These scholarly sessions bring together colleagues who want to convey theory and ideas surrounding a particular topic and communicate to the audience their work.

Session Themes

The following session themes will be a main factor in proposal consideration. Be sure to frame your proposal so that it fits within one or more of these categories:

• Civic pathways (conference theme)
• 21st century citizenship skills
• Assessment of civic learning
• Community partnerships, engagement & organizing
• Increasing civic participation of disengaged student populations • Global citizenship and engagement
• Infusing civic learning into curriculum (e.g., STEM, arts & humanities, social sciences, professional fields)
• Institutionalization of civic learning and engagement
• Diversity and social justice
• Political engagement
• Programs, projects, and events on campus
• Research & theory
• Service-learning
• Student activism & organizing
• Teacher education

To begin the CFP submission process, please follow this link: http://proposalspace.com/calls/d/312