Massachusetts Bay Community College is hosting a Spring 2012 interdisciplinary and inter-professional conference on trauma and learning in post-secondary education.

I. Audience
Educators and faculty, mental health professionals and clinicians, researchers, social workers, veterans' service providers, and other interested parties articulate and share strategies relevant to trauma and learning. Of particular emphasis will be how issues of trauma present and are responded to in the postsecondary setting, particularly as these issues influence successful academic learning and relationship-building, campus safety and security, internal and external systems of support and referrals, specific learning populations such as veterans returning from service, international and ESL/ELL, survivors of violence, and others. We especially encourage attention to the diverse and dynamic community college communities.

II. Goal of the conference
To support a cross-disciplinary articulation of how trauma adversely affects learning in the diverse post-secondary college population, and to share strategies that might positively affect academic outcomes. The goal is to examine and articulate how colleges and communities encounter, experience, and respond in their respective roles to trauma, resilience and best practices.

III. Topics
Because this conference is interdisciplinary and inter-professional,
each of the break-out session periods will offer relevant topics
in the following categories:
 Clinical issues regarding trauma and resilience relevant to adult postsecondary
populations with emphasis on cognitive and relational skills
with topics such as:
o mental health and the college classroom, mental health and
social workers in the post-secondary clinical setting, family
issues for the adult learner, diagnostic issues in PTSD, Complex
Post-Traumatic Stress Developmental Disorder, ADHD, and
other relevant topics.
 Cognitive and neuro-scientific findings relevant to trauma,
resilience, and adult learning with topics such as:
o understanding potential triggers in the educational setting,
brain-based learning strategies, and other relevant topics.
 Allied Health education regarding trauma and resilience as a regular
factor in the medical setting with topics such as:
o first responder professions such as EMT, managing stress and
burnout in high-stress medical professions, pedagogical issues
related to nursing and allied health education, and other relevant topics.
 Pedagogical issues with topics such as:
o student self-disclosure of traumatic narrative in academic
writing, teaching potentially triggering materials such as
Holocaust literature and slave narratives, possible challenges
presented by adjunct/part-time instructor teaching in the
evening or online, displacement trauma in the ESL/ELL
classroom, and other relevant topics.
 Military and veteran service members and the post-secondary
experience with topics such as:
o post-deployment re-entry issues, understanding veteran
resources both on campus and in the community, veteran
benefits, and other related topics.
 Institutional issues as related to trauma with topics such as:
o framing trauma as a retention issue, security and threat
assessment on campus, implications for a trauma-informed
post-secondary framework, and other related topics.

IV. Session types
Multiple concurrent panels will be available for each break-out session period. Presenters may propose separately titled papers, performances, case studies, digital installations, visual presentations, etc., in whatever format best delivers the presenters' ideas and engages the audience.
Each session is allotted approximately 75 minutes. We encourage each panel to consider ways in which it might emphasize interaction such as discussion, providing papers in advance, etc. All sessions will be required to submit a paper, PowerPoint, or any relevant materials in advance for inclusion in the conference booklet. If the content of the presentation is performance or installation-based, we encourage that presentation to consider ways in which it might usefully be included in the conference publication. Types of panels include:
 Individual presentation representing a perspective on a specific issue as related to one or more of the above categories. The presentation must make a minimum of 15 minutes time for audience discussion.  Concurrent presentation in which two or more presenters offer perspective on a specific issue, with a particular goal of rendering differing or complementary points of view. Panels must be willing to facilitate discussion in response to the presentations, comment on how the different presenter perspectives overlap, prepare questions in advance, and actively engage audience participation. The panel must make a minimum of 15 minutes time for audience discussion.  Roundtable in which three or more presenters coordinate a collaborative presentation/robust discussion on a topic. Panels must have a moderator who facilitates discussion in response to the presenters, who comments on how the different presenter perspectives overlaps, prepares questions in advance, and who actively engages audience participation. The presentation must make a minimum of 15 minutes time for audience discussion.

V. Abstract Guidelines/Deadlines.
 January 15, 2012: No later than this date, abstracts are due describing the proposed panel. The abstract must provide the following information:
o 250-500 word maximum description of presentation type/content. This abstract should offer content description, presentation goal(s), and a clear articulation of how this presentation responds to trauma and learning in post-secondary settings.
o Type of Session/Proposal.
 Concurrent (2 or more)
 Roundtable (3 or more)
 Individual
o Title of Presentation.
o Name, contact information, titles of all presenters within the session.
o The successful panel will also offer one interactive feature that encourages collective dialogue within the session. For example, written material provided in advance for discussion, case studies provided in advance in digital text or video to be discussed in the panel, etc.
o Audiovisual needs
 January 30, 2012: Notification of acceptance. Remember that this abstract will be reviewed by an interdisciplinary panel, and will therefore be most successful if it clearly identifies the category/cluster in which it will function, and is able to represent attention to expert as well as non-expert audiences.
 March 1st, 2012: PowerPoint, papers, or relevant materials to be included in the conference booklet must be submitted no later than this date.
 Please email your submission to jtietjen@massbay.edu. For any questions, please email Jeanie Tietjen, Asst. Professor of Writing & Literature, or call 781.239.2203.