Educational Session Call for Proposals

Welcome!

Use this form to submit a Convention Program, Roundtable Discussion, or Pre-Convention Workshops Proposal ONLY. To submit a proposal for one of the Scholarship Session types, please use the Scholarship Session Program Proposal Form.

PLEASE NOTE: Prepare your proposal in a document saved to your local device. Once completed, cut and paste the information into this application form. THIS FORM WILL TIME OUT AFTER 1 HOUR OF INACTIVITY. MAKE SURE YOUR CONTENT IS BACKED UP IN A SEPARATE DOCUMENT TO AVOID LOSING PROGRESS.

Educational Session Proposal Worksheet: The Program Team recommends utilizing this worksheet to prepare your proposal before starting the official proposal form. The online form will time out which could result in losing unsaved work. Please click the hyperlink and download the worksheet to edit.

Thank you for your interest in submitting an educational session proposal for the ACPA26 Annual Convention in Baltimore, MD USA, 30 March - 2 April 2026.

The ACPA26 Convention Planning Teams strives to create a Convention experience that will engage participants to understand, unpack, and celebrate the work we have done and the lessons that we have learned; to make plans and evolve our thinking to transform the future; and that we will commit to advancing meaningful change and challenging systemic barriers.

Centering LOVE, ACPA26 will create space for transformative learning and action across multiple higher education sectors. This framework integrates multiple dimensions of engagement: historical consciousness, critical analysis, humanization, and future-oriented thinking, all converging on LOVE as the central organizing principle. These elements work together to foster responsibility rather than compliance, create spaces for authentic dialogue, and develop sustainable practices for racial justice work.

image of Racial Justice and Decolonization framework centering love

Educational Session Types

The ACPA26 Convention Planning Team invites educational session proposals that seek to engage with these goals. This Call for Proposals includes the following session types:

Session Type	Session Time	Description
Convention Program	60 minutes	Sessions on a specific topic or theme in which the subject can be addressed in a 60-minute block and a multimodal presentation format. Session formats may include, but are not limited to, lectures, panels, slide presentations, or other creative approaches.
Roundtable Discussion	60 minutes	Sessions designed to explore a specific topic or theme in depth through small group interaction and discussion. Presenters are encouraged to provide engaging discussion topics and prompt questions to stimulate meaningful table conversations.
Creative Expression: Anchored in Art		An innovative showcase of diverse artistic expressions of professional identity by ACPA members. Exhibits include, but are not limited to, visual art, digital media, poetry, musical compositions, collage, and photography, reflecting the presenters’ professional journeys, challenges, and insights.
Pre-Convention Workshop	4 hours or 8 hours	Pre-Convention Workshops offer an in-depth exploration of current and emerging topics that transform higher education. Four-hour sessions are scheduled on Sunday, 29 March (1:00-5:00pm) or Monday, 30 March (8:30am-12:30pm). Presenters may also combine two sessions to create a full-day, 8-hour session.

The ACPA/NASPA Profesional Competency Areas for Student Affairs can be reviewed at: https://www.myacpa.org/professional-competency-areas-student-affairs-practitioners. Creative delivery methods are highly encouraged in all sessions. To discuss these methods further, please email conventionprograms@acpa.nche.edu.

Proposal Submission Deadlines:

The deadline to submit a proposal for a Pre-Convention Workshop is Friday, 11 July 2025.
The deadline to submit all other types of proposals is Friday, 5 September 2025.

If you have any questions or experience any difficulties with the submission process, please contact the Program Team at conventionprograms@acpa.nche.edu.

NOTE: You must select "Submit" on the final page of the proposal to officially submit your proposal.
Due to spam and email security filters, you may not receive a confirmation email upon completion of your proposal. Please make sure that when submitting your proposal, you complete all pages. Your proposal is not complete until you reach a submission confirmation page.