CEAO Spring Conference: Saturday, April 5, 2025

Kent State University, Stark Campus

Theme: Winds of Change: Adapting to New Political, Economic and Technological Environments

Keynote Speaker:  Dr. Barbara George, Carnegie Mellon University

“Forefronting the Humanities within Changing Technical Landscapes”

“The future’s in the air, I can feel it everywhere. Blowing with the winds of change.  –The Scorpions

Thirty-four years ago, German hard rock band the Scorpions released the rock ballad “Winds of Change,” a song that expressed the band’s feelings during the height of perestroika, the moment when the Soviet Union began to restructure in the face of rising political and economic upheavals. In today’s environment, it feels like similar changing winds are bringing new upheavals to different parts of our society, including education. How will upcoming political winds–including a possible elimination of the Department of Education–alter our current educational environments? What role will the Humanities play in these new educational environments? How should we react to the increasing presence of generative artificial intelligence in our world (and will our reaction even matter)? In what ways will we continue to see Kathy Blake Yancey’s rising waves of literacy transform our classrooms and the students who inhabit them? And, how can we begin to control and productively use these winds, similar to turbines that increasingly reside in our communities which are transforming how we produce and use energy?

This year’s conference focuses on current and/or soon to be changes in English studies and its related subdisciplines. Participants will consider ways in which their teaching, service, creative productions, and scholarship will affect and be affected by changing landscapes including technological innovations such as AI text generators; environmental issues; social issues related to gender, sexuality, race, class, and disability; state and institutional policies; the literary marketplace; new classroom practices; changing locations for teaching writing (including increases in online, hybrid, and College Credit Plus high school campus courses); and other areas that intersect the field. We welcome all topics relating to English Studies as well as those that speak to our conference theme. Possible topics relating to transformation might include:

·       Pedagogical and scholarly changes in literature and representation

·       Transforming views on social media’s role in education

·       Changing pedagogy and writing in an AI context

·       Changing views on old and new classroom practices

·       Responding to potential revisions in Higher Education and the Humanities

·       Changes in student and teacher demographics

·       Changes related to the increasing presence of College Credit Plus

·       Changes to discourse in a world of shifting language and communication

·       Rising use of Open Educational Resources in English and composition classrooms

·       Changes in how scholarly and creative works are published and recognized

We welcome work by creative writers. We will offer panels with time for 15 – 20 minute readings of creative works, and/ or creative writers are welcome to apply to lead a 60 minute creative writing workshop.

Proposals in all disciplinary areas and fields are encouraged and welcomed, including, but not limited to: African-American Literature /American Literature / Assessment and/or Learning Outcomes / British & Irish, Scottish and Welsh Literature / Children’s and Adolescent Literature / Composition and Rhetoric: Practice or Theory / Creative Writing: Fiction and Poetry or Non-Fiction / Disability Studies / Film and Literature / Grammar and Linguistics / Graphic Novels / Hispanic, Latino/a, and Chicano/a Literature / LGBTQ+ / Linguistics / Literary Theory/ Multicultural and World Literature / Multimedia / Native American Literature / Ohio Regional Writing / Pedagogy: Diversity in the English Curriculum, Service Learning, Active Learning or other/ Popular Culture / Post-Colonial Literature / Queer Studies / Religion and Literature / Teacher Education / Technical Communication (ATTW) / Visual and Material Culture / Women’s Connection, Women’s Literature, and WGST / Writing Across the Curriculum

CEAO welcomes proposals for:

·       individual 15- to 20-minute presentations (including creative writing readings),

·       Pre-arranged panels with multiple speakers (60 minutes)

·       60-minute workshop sessions (all topics)

We seek submissions from full-time faculty, graduate students, adjunct and part-time instructors, as well as individuals living/working both inside and outside of Ohio. Faculty presenting projects with undergraduate students are also welcome. Proposals from faculty and administrators from institutions of all sizes and types—public, private, community, K-12—are encouraged to apply.

For questions about the conference program, please email Anthony Edgington at anthony.edgington@utoledo.edu. For questions about the conference site; please email Dirk Remley at dremley@kent.edu.

Send proposals of 300 words or fewer by February 21, 2025 to https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeQaDY0nsz32vJ1HBz2B_o_2NiwmC8MRlTRjK_WWlt8ZYSarA/viewform?usp=dialog 

Presenters must be registered for the conference by the deadline.