Join us for SCUP’s Mid-Atlantic 2021 virtual Regional Conference.
The 2021 program will offer you the opportunity to participate over the course of five consecutive afternoons, giving you the morning to attend to your daily responsibilities and leaving the afternoon to be SCUP focused. You’ll get re-energized through community connections, fill your strategy toolbox with valuable lessons learned and other tools, and get the perspectives you need to keep your planning on track and aligned!
Conference Format.
Each day will feature a keynote presentation from a different Mid-Atlantic “host” institution representing the diversity of the region’s colleges and universities. To accompany these keynotes, we will be selecting timely and relevant concurrent sessions from our open call for proposals.
Integrated Planning Comes Alive.
The need for integrated planning on campuses has been gaining momentum over the last several years as higher education has been experiencing unprecedented upheaval. With response to rapid advancements in educational technology, increasing costs, pressure to demonstrate relevance, demands for more equitable access, and the need to limit our impact on the environment. And now with the addition of a worldwide pandemic and increasingly urgent calls to address racial injustice, integrated planning becomes that much more important.
Planning For the Long Run.
Change and adaptation is happening so rapidly on our campuses this fall that it’s difficult to predict which topics will be foremost on our minds come next spring. In this regard, we encourage proposal submissions on a wide range of topics. While it is likely that today’s conditions will affect almost every area of higher education, we hope to maintain focus on issues that have been and will continue to be important over the long run.
Important dates:
Registration will open in December.
Call for proposals closed October 22, 2020, at 11:59 PM EST.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Support your region and gain valuable visibility while you engage in the conversations that will help institutions face today’s challenges and those to come.
Become a Sponsor!
Scholarship
Award
Scholarships will cover the cost of registration. Preference will be given to members in the region.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Conference Scholarship, applicants must provide the following:
- Demonstrate financial need, preference given to members (one paragraph self-statement)
- Explain desired benefits from attendance (one paragraph)
- Optional: A brief statement of support by the institution or organization, such as a supervisor (one paragraph)
Application Review
The Regional Council Chair will review applications and provide recommendations (ranked based on application criteria). Once award recipients are notified of acceptance, they will be given instructions on registering.
Application Deadline
Monday, February 22, 2021, at 11:59 PM Eastern
Notification of Selection
Scholarship applicants will be notified of award status by Monday, March 1, 2021.
Apply Today
Call for Proposals
The call for proposals closed on October 22.
Now is your chance to shine! Your SCUP community values the real-life experience and strategies that come from the leaders who are making change happen on campuses across their region. Share your work with us and you could be part of this community-driven experience.
Topic Suggestions.
We welcome presentations highlighting your experience in any of the following areas:
The Future of Higher Education
- The physical and virtual campus
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Developing successful educational programs
- New horizons in teaching and research
- Smart building design
- Existing and emerging funding models
- The regulatory landscape
Campus Planning
- New construction vs renovation
- Space management
- Community partnerships and collaboration
- Consultant-institutional collaboration
- Planning techniques and engagement
- Strategic and physical planning
- Leadership transitions
- Change management
Sustainability and Resiliency
- Environmental sustainability
- Campus security
- Alternative energy
- Climate change
- Financial resiliency
- Social media and risk
Technology and Data in Higher Ed
- Emerging technologies
- Big data and data analytics
- Space Management
- KPIs
Students and Spaces
- Active learning
- Virtual learning
- Students’ expectations and preferences
- Informal and non-classroom learning spaces
- Design impact on health and wellbeing
- Campus as classroom
- Libraries
*Please note that these topics are listed for guidance and are not meant to be prescriptive. Your presentation may cover one or multiple topics in these areas.
Delivery Options for your Session
As you develop the approach for your session, please remember that it will be presented virtually via Zoom. You can check out our tips and tricks for presenting virtually here.
Zoom offers an array of options for virtual attendee participation, such as polling, break-out rooms, a chat function, Q&A, etc. Please note that our call for proposals form is set up for a live conference and will ask you for your A/V and room set preferences. Under Room Set Preferences, please select round tables if you would like to use Zoom breakout rooms during your session—otherwise, please select theater.
Expert Lectures
These are formal 60-minute presentations by one or more presenters who will share conceptual or methodological innovations. A lecture format with substantial opportunity for audience questions is acceptable, but other interactive components may be added. The abstract should detail both the background of the lecturer(s) as well as the importance of the material to be presented.
Panel Discussion
This thematic, 60-minute presentation focuses on an issue facing higher education. The agenda items in the call for proposals form should describe how panelists will offer coordinated presentations and the general topic of the panel. This type of session has a more discussion-oriented format with back-and-forth between the panelists that should involve audience participation throughout.
Selection Criteria
The SCUP Mid–Atlantic Conference Committee and Council, Planning Academy members, and other volunteers from the Mid-Atlantic region will review the submitted proposals after the call closes. Reviewers will evaluate proposals based upon the following criteria:
- Timeliness and relevance of the proposal topic
- Originality and quality of the proposal
- Presence of multiple perspectives
- Diversity of presenters (i.e., regional, institutional)
- Special consideration for proposals including college/university president presenters, student presenters, and community college presenters.
- Realistic allocation of time (including audience participation) and clearly written agenda items that offer thorough description of content
- Substantive issues discussed during the session (note that sessions should share knowledge rather than promote products, programs, universities, or services)
Before you start filling out the call for proposals form, you can check out the questions here.
The conference committee will select among many proposals, some of which may be similar, and will seek balance among topics and areas of importance to attendees. Proposals of equal merit cannot in all instances be selected if the result would be an imbalance in the conference’s overall topical coverage. Although not required, institutional participation in the presentation team will receive higher consideration than a team without institutional representation. We intend to select a comparable number of each of the delivery styles.
The deadline to submit a proposal for the SCUP 2021 Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference was October 22, 2020, at 11:59 PM EST.
