2021 Academic Affairs Summer Meeting
Wednesday, July 21, 2021 to Friday, July 23, 2021
Virtual
Recovery • Adaptation • Reinvention: The Post-2020 Regional Public University
2020 ushered in a once-in-a-century worldwide pandemic that claimed the lives of millions and changed every aspect of our lives. It brought on a global recession that put millions out of work and pushed countless others into extreme poverty around the world. In the U.S., unemployment reached pre-World War II
levels and revenues plunged. The financial losses were disproportionately felt by Black and brown communities. Protests brought attention, but no resolution, to systemic racial inequities. And the country experienced the most divisive national election in modern history, culminating with a mob attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The events of 2020 have already had a profound impact on higher education, with serious implications for state colleges and universities. While we are still finding our way through the fog of the crisis, we will convene around the theme “Recovery • Adaptation • Reinvention: The Post-2020 Regional
Public University” to reflect and learn from one another about how we are managing disruptions to enrollments, budgets, curriculum, pedagogy, staff, faculty, and students, as well as the communities and regions we serve.
Despite the challenges, the events of 2020 accelerated needed changes in practices and policies as institutions quickly adapted to serve their students and protect their employees. While the work may seem daunting, we are fully prepared to meet the challenge and
reinforce the intrinsic value of higher education for the public we serve.
About the Conference
AASCU’s 2021 Academic Affairs Summer Meeting will ask timely and relevant questions about managing and leading the post-2020 university. How has 2020 changed higher education permanently? What have we learned? What aspects of our work do we need to restore to
where we were before 2020? How do we need to adapt to the new reality? What must be fundamentally reinvented?
The program will be shaped by issues our members consider most relevant and pressing. The topics below are being posed across higher education and will shape the meeting’s facilitated discussions and concurrent sessions:
- Planning: How we rethink institutional planning; envision a sustainable future; move past “survival mode” to innovate; plan in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment; and revisit pre-2020 strategic plans
- Budget: Managing an unpredictable budget, ensuring cuts are made equitably, implementing alternative budget models, monitoring academic program costs, and communicating budget cuts in the context of shared governance
- Student Success/Enrollment: Addressing immediate student needs and the disproportionate toll the pandemic has taken on students and employees of color, supporting our Asian students in the time of anti-Asian attacks, preparing to lead and facilitate crucial conversations
about race, and keeping college accessible and affordable
- Curriculum/Pedagogy: Rethinking pedagogy as a response to the pandemic, ensuring offerings align with regional workforce needs, addressing changes in attitudes toward remote learning, adapting curricula to student interests, and communicating academic program
closures
- External Constituents: Strategically investing federal dollars from COVID-19 relief; assessing implications of changing federal policies and initiatives; adapting to post-2020 changes in state laws; responding to demands from students, parents,
and other constituents; and serving as stewards of place
- Faculty and Staff: Adapting tenure and promotion policies, accommodating flexible work arrangements, supporting faculty in the transition to remote learning, and helping students and employees recover from the “social recession”
To ensure your voice is heard, submit a session proposal by Monday, May 24.
Submit a Proposal
View the full list of meeting topics.
Who Should Attend
The meeting has sessions targeted to the needs of these roles:
- Provosts
- Chief student affairs officers
- Assistant and associate provosts
- Assistant and associate vice presidents
- Student success personnel
- Directors
- Deans
- Assistant and associate deans
- Department chairs
- Program coordinators
- Faculty leaders
Schedule top
The meeting
will use a variety of formats for the exchange of ideas and
solutions:
- Keynotes: Moderated conversations with national
leaders on topics that provoke and inspire
- Workshops: Small workshops for campus teams to address challenges on their
campuses
- Roundtables: Opportunities to gather with colleagues across the country
to discuss issues in groups
- Exemplary practices: Short sessions for campuses to share effective,
innovative practices with one another
- Topical sessions: In-depth discussions of topics relevant to regional public
universities
More details on the schedule will be coming soon.
| |
By 6/18/2021 |
After 6/18/2021 |
| Member Rate, Full Conference |
$250 |
$275 |
| Campus Team Discount for Members* (per person for a group of two or more from the same member campus) |
$200 |
$225 |
| Non-Member Rate, Full Conference (no team discount) |
$350 |
$375 |
| Member Day Rate (no team discount) |
$150 |
$150 |
| Non-Member Day Rate |
$200 |
$250 |
*A minimum of two members must be registered in order to obtain this special registration rate. If you register with this option, please contact
Felicia Durham to register second individual or additional team members at durhamf@aascu.org or 202-478-4673.
Registration Information top
Register Now
Please
note: In order to register, you must first sign into your AASCU account. If you do not already have an AASCU account, you can create one by clicking the "create a new account" button under the sign-in box.
See the fees above for each conference category, and please make sure that you select the correct category for your attendance.
If you need assistance with the registration process, please contact Felicia
Durham, AASCU's meeting registrar, at
durhamf@aascu.org or 202-478-4673.