(via Steve Brantley, Eastern Illinois University)
A signature AAC&U initiative, Making Excellence Inclusive is designed to explore how colleges and universities can fully utilize the resources of diversity to achieve academic excellence for all students. The annual RISE conference (Reaching Inclusivity for Student Excellence) provides faculty and staff the strategies and tools to support students’ academic success. The conference is also designed to raise awareness of the diverse challenges our students face, whether as members of underrepresented groups, as first-generation college students, as non-traditionally aged students, or as students with disabilities.
We welcome presentations on issues concerning inclusion, diversity, equity, trauma informed methods, the impacts of the pandemic on all aspects of education, the intersectionality of any of the aforementioned, and other topics that pertain to the theme. We also welcome presentations that engage with Illinois’ new Culturally Responsive Teaching standards. Sessions will be presented synchronously; presentations may be live or pre-recorded with live Q&A/discussion at the end.
Our Fall 2021 conference will be virtual. It will take place on Friday, October 15. Our keynote address and individual sessions will be offered in a virtual meeting format. You are warmly invited to join us regardless of whether you choose to submit a proposal. For more information about MEI’s mission and core principles visit the MEI webpage.
Proposals are now being accepted for the fifth annual conference. Submit proposals here by Friday, June 4. Proposals should include the following information.
- Names/titles/departments/institutional affiliations, contact information for each presenter
- Session/presentation/workshop title
- Preferred session length (50 or 100 minutes with break)
- 125-word abstract
- 300-word description, including target audience, learning objectives/outcomes, relevance to MEI objectives and conference theme
- 125-word bio statement for each presenter
Proposals will be peer reviewed and decisions will be made no later than Friday, August 20. We anticipate conference registration opening a few weeks before the conference date. Final presentations will be submitted for uploading by Thursday, October 7.
If you have any questions, please e-mail RISE@eiu.edu. Information on past RISE conferences is available here (scroll down to the bottom of the page).