Call for Proposals

The deadline has now passed!
Thank you to all who submitted proposals.

The 7th Annual Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education Conference will explore contemplative approaches to creating and sustaining just communities: approaches that foster connection while recognizing and honoring difference, with a commitment to the common flourishing of all. These approaches should examine the profound ways in which our social locations within higher education–based on age, gender, sexual orientation, discipline, ability, religion, race, social/economic class, nationality, contemplative tradition–affect and are affected by differing levels of advantage or disadvantage. As we recognize our interdependence and our responsibilities to one another, we can cultivate more ethical, compassionate, and more socially just communities.

We often see contemplative approaches as practices focused inward, as forms of self-inquiry and reflection for fostering intrapersonal development. However, we also know that they arise out of and influence broader human relations, developing and sustaining greater interpersonal connection. What is this connection? How can interpersonal connection be nurtured, especially in the service of social justice and the creation of “beloved communities” like those envisioned by Josiah Royce and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?

Presentation proposals might address questions such as:

  • How can we use contemplative approaches to create beloved community in our institutions of higher education?
  • What have social movements (past and present) taught us about building just communities and the use of contemplative practices in creating a just world?
  • How can contemplative practices help us honor differences between us, recognizing the sociopolitical dynamics that so often accompany those differences?
  • What is the responsibility of contemplative pedagogy with regard to social justice initiatives/movements?
  • How can contemplative communities do the work of unsettling oppression, both within the communities and outside of them? How can we be guided by the work of contemplative and spiritually-based communities throughout history?
  • How can we inspire students to engage in just community building through contemplative pedagogy?
  • How can these initiatives more effectively engage marginalized students?

Guidelines

  • Professionals from all areas of higher education, including faculty, graduate students, staff, and administrators, are invited to submit proposals for consideration.
  • Proposals must indicate a session type: practice, interactive, panel, or poster. Please refer to the session descriptions for more information.
  • Proposals must describe the planned structure of their session, such as the use of visuals, materials, interactive practices or exercises, Q & A/discussion, etc
  • The submission deadline is [was] Monday, May 18, 2015 at midnight EDT (-04:00 UTC).
  • Proposals will be reviewed and selected by the conference committee. The conference committee will begin reviewing proposals after May 18.
  • We originally intended to send notifications of proposal acceptance by June 9. However, due to the large number of proposals received in response to this year’s conference theme, we have extended the proposal review period. We hope to send notifications in the third or fourth week of June.
  • All presenters must be members of the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education and become paid registrants of the conference. If you are accepted as a presenter, but are not yet an ACMHE member, you may join before the conference.

Session Descriptions

  • 60-Minute Practice Sessions focus on particular practices and invite participants to experience them as designed or adapted for educational settings, allowing time for discussion. We encourage a full variety of practices from stillness to movement, silence to sound, interpersonal to intrapersonal, etc.
  • 60-Minute Interactive Sessions allow opportunities for presenters to share research and methodologies in ways that engage the session participants and model contemplative modes of inquiry. They may feature one or more lead presenters incorporating a variety of interactive methods (dialogue, guided discussion, etc.), with minimal time spent in lecture-style presenting. Interactive sessions may also take the form of a roundtable discussion in which the organizer proposes a concept, approach, or issue, and participants are invited to share in an open inquiry. Audio-visual equipment, including digital projector and screen, may be requested.
  • 75-Minute Panel Sessions, moderated and organized by a lead presenter, invite multiple panelists to present brief, focused perspectives on a topic and allow time for extended discussion. Audio-visual equipment, including digital projector and screen, may be requested.
  • Poster Presentations offer an opportunity to speak informally with a large number of colleagues and display some aspects of your work visually on a poster. Each poster presenter will be supplied with an easel and a 3′x4′ poster board. Posters are presented simultaneously in a one-hour session. No audio-visual equipment is available for Poster Presentations.