Mar & Apr Conferences

…adjunct conferences & sessions not like this…promise!

…of interest to #adjunct & #ContingentFaculty. This post is list and reminder of upcoming, March and April, contingent faculty relevant conferences / meetings. Hopefully (and with your cooperation), we'll have a fresh list before May.

Our March-April list so far is CCCC/NCTE 2013 (Las Vegas),  AFA/USW's Countering Contingency (Pittsburgh), Ohio PTFA with AURCO (), NEA National (Portland), AFT Higher Education Issues (San Diego), NCSCBHEP (the impossible acronym, NYC). Are there others? I don't mean for MLA to get all the conference coverage but can't post w/o information.

• March 8-10, AFT Higher Education Professional Issues Conference, San Diego. Deadline was Feb1. Agenda (sketchy, no details)  (speakers not posted yet). There is no conference contact information, just the AFT Contact page. I'm writing them a note about the gap and hope others will do the same. This conference has less information about it than any on this list, which sends a negative message to potential members. No check marks or gold stars from this reviewer. Rotten tomatoes, maybe. 

• March 13-16, the 64th Annual CCCC Convention, Las Vegas. Hurry thought! Advance registration closes Feb. 22. 2013 Program. Register online here. #4C13 (Twitter hashtag) offers expanded Internet access, enhanced interactivity, Basic Writing Strand, and Federal Writers' Project 2.0.  Topsy is already showing a good selection of tweets and links about #4C13. You can also follow the current discussion on BW Council's Facebook group right up to conference time and then either pick it up there or follow online. Also of note: Committee on PT academic labor and featured speaker Gary Rhoades, former Secretary of AAUP, will offer his wide-ranging perspective on the rhetoric of privatization, with special attention paid to contingent employment. Last CCCC approved travel funding for adjunct faculty. Gold stars all the way around for #4C13!

• April 5-7, Countering Contingency. Adjunct Faculty Association, USW, Pittsburgh. Please note the attention #nttconf13 gives to affordability and how much information they provide. Another set of gold stars ~ and this is on just their 1st try. 

• April 7, 8, 9. NCSCBHEP 40th Annual National Conference: A Joint Labor/Management Meeting. Challenges in Context: Borrowed Money, Borrowed Time. New York City. Session topics include ACA, Accountability, Metrics, Accreditation, Collective Bargaining. NFM Board members presenting and in attendance. Brochure. 

• April 13. 2013 AURCO conference hosted by Ohio University’s Lancaster Campus. Proposals due by March 1. Guidelines. The Association for the University Regional Campuses of Ohio (AURCO) and the Ohio PT Faculty Association (OPTFA) are co-sponsoring a special track of presentations at this year’s conference to be devoted to the professional interests and concerns of adjunct faculty/ 

• April 22-24 NEA 2013, Portland. NFM Board Member Betsy Smith will be co-running a Sunday am coffee/chat session for contingent faculty. Board Member Judy Olson will be on a panel with Clare Goldstene on neoliberalism and contingency,  Saturday morning, 3/23, at 10:45,  and giving a poster presentation 6 pm Friday.

We concur with a recent statement to the effect that national organizations should be encouraging contingent faculty to attend, not making it prohibitively expensive. Being invisible to professional organizations and parent unions make it harder to be seen by others and our impact on higher ed understood, but it also discourages adjuncts from joining these organizations when their actions speak other and louder than their words.


Most, if not all, are too late to submit to but most still not too late to attend if reminded and/or in the area. Where available, I'm adding a note about NFM participation at any of these. If you are attending any of these, please let us know. Conferences are another way for members and potential members to make contact... even if also the least affordable. Conferences and annual meetings have also tended to be extensions of Ivory Silo™ ... information and presentations shared within stays within, not circulating well among the larger academic, professional or organization community ~ least of all to the most precarious members. More and more conferences are wired, blogged and live tweeted. We try to follow those on online, reporting via social media, and encourage others to so as well.


Since I am not an NEA or AFT member (and no institutional affiliation), I do not get email notices or newsletters so count on you to keep me posted. If possible please include  brief description, dates, locations, links, tags and #hashtags. Unpack acronyms too please. NCHE, for example, is the NEA's National Council for Higher Education ~ but also refers to the National Council for History Education or National Center for Homeless Education (among other even less likely ed-gathering candidates)


Although not properly this post's topic, May 1, 2013 is the session proposal deadline for Indiana University's 2014 FALCON Conference. Pricey, run by suits not adjunct faculty (as you can tell from pricing and copy). More key dates. FALCON = FACET’s Adjunct Faculty and Lecturers CONference. FACET = Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching.