This statewide event hosted annually is a collaborative effort between the State of Michigan’s King Chavez Parks (KCP) Initiative and Michigan colleges and universities. The Equity Conference provides an annual forum for higher education and K-12 faculty, administrators, staff, as well as community organizations and partners to come together to share best practices, data and research findings, and strategies for improving academic equity for underserved and/or diverse student groups.
For 2015, we are specifically requesting proposals that explore innovative ways to re-envision education for the broad range of America’s “New Majority” students who are likely to be low-income, racially, ethnically, culturally, and socially diverse. In addition, the “New Majority” in higher education includes a growing number of students who are considered non-traditional because they are older, possibly veterans, working full-time, and frequently juggling family as well as educational responsibilities.
As a means of building on 25 years of progress, we invite proposals which focus on improving equity in the future for diverse student groups in one or more of the following themes:
- Innovative strategies which will foster future collaborations and/or partnerships between various academic institutions as a means to improve equity within the classroom for diverse student groups. This could include such things as blended degree programs (technology/face to face), 2 year and 4 year college partnerships, K-12 and 2 year/4 year college collaborations, etc…
- Contemporary and visionary collaborative programs or partnerships with higher education institutions, K-12 schools, parents and/or community agencies designed to strengthen the pipeline for economically disadvantaged and other diverse student populations.
- Cutting edge action-oriented or applied research and assessment on achieving equity in enrollment, retention, and graduation for underserved and diverse student populations in K-12 and higher education. This could include the examination of the root causes of educational inequities in a broad range of disadvantaged groups (age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and race/ethnicity) and innovative ideas for changes in structural systems which support these groups.
- Innovative high-impact teaching strategies such as community engagement and service learning with disadvantaged and diverse student groups.
- Classroom teaching innovations and strategies which build an active and inclusive learning environment for diverse student groups.
- Promising practices to reverse the loss of STEM talent and support higher levels of success in STEM for students from underserved groups and women.
Submission Guidelines:
All breakout sessions are 60 minutes in length. To be considered, proposals should include the following information:
1. Presenter(s) name, title, institution/organization, contact information including email and phone.
2. Title of Presentation
3. Session Description which outlines presentation. (250 word maximum)
4. Explanation of how session ties to one or more conference themes. (Select from list below and provide brief explanation up to 50 words)
- Innovative strategies which will foster future collaborations and/or partnerships.
- Contemporary and visionary collaborative programs or partnerships between academic institutions.
- Cutting edge action-oriented or applied research and assessment
- Innovative high-impact teaching strategies such as community engagement/service learning.
- Inclusive classroom teaching innovations and strategies.
- Promising practices to reverse loss of STEM talent.
5. Expected Learning Outcomes - what are the take-away messages for the audience? (75 word maximum)
6. Explanation of how session will engage participants by sparking interaction and meaningful discussions. (75 word maximum)
7. Who the intended audience is (i.e., who would benefit most from attending this session, i.e., K-12 faculty, K-12 administrator, higher ed. faculty or administrator, community partner/collaborator, policymakers, program director, etc…). (25 word maximum)
8. Short abstract for final program and day/time you would prefer to present (preferred time cannot be guaranteed). (150 word maximum)
