professional topics

The Margaret Fuller Society invites proposals for a panel at ALA 2026 about teaching in difficult times. As we head into the spring 2026 semester—the mid-point in an academic year when students and educators read U.S. literature amidst rising book bans, closing degree programs and DEI offices, and even the dismantling of the Department of Education—many of us are facing existential crises about how to do what matters to us most. How to support our students? How to sustain our disciplines? How to teach in ways that do justice to our subjects? The most basic day-to-day parts of our teaching lives have never felt more vulnerable—or more urgent.

We are excited to share with you all on behalf of the Conference Planning Committee for the University of Connecticut First-Year Writing Program that we are holding our 21st Annual Conference on the Teaching of Writing on Thursday, April 23 and Friday, April 24, 2026, on our campus in Storrs, CT. Our theme for the upcoming conference is: “Wicked Reading for Wicked Problems." As those who have collaborated with us in the past, we are once again inviting you to help us explore ways of approaching these 'wicked problems', such as those that evade consensus, offer multiple solutions, or may even resist resolution at all.

INTERNATIONAL PSYCHOHISTORICAL ASSOCIATION’S 49th ANNUAL CONFERENCE

 MAY 29-31, 2026, VIRTUALLY ON ZOOM

THEME: Breaking Cycles of Violence: Psychohistorical Perspectives on Individual and Collective Healing

What Is This Conference About?

How do we break the cycles of violence — within ourselves, our families, and our societies — that perpetuate suffering across generations? What can psychohistory contribute to understanding and transforming these deep patterns? The 2026 IPhA Annual Conference invites scholars, clinicians, educators, and activists to explore these vital questions from both individual and collective perspectives.

Penn State’s Center for American Literary Studies presents

Urgent Lessons from Antifascist Works of American Literature and Culture

Friday, December 12, 2025, Noon—1:00 p.m. EST via Zoom

 Register here

https://psu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QD77CICpR267kwXJgIB56g

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email

The 37th Society for Animation Studies Conference will take place in the city of Pittsburgh (USA) from June 15 to 18, 2026 (with optional excursions to follow on June 19-20). It will be hosted by the Pennsylvania Expanded Animation Alliance (PA XAA), a consortium of faculty from local universities (including Carnegie Mellon University, Point Park University, Robert Morris University, and the University of Pittsburgh) in concert with the Children’s Museum Pittsburgh. The event will also be hybrid, with additional details to follow. 

We are soliciting chapter proposals for an edited volume titled “Documentation of/as Violence.” In this volume, we seek to explore how documentation, or the lack thereof, can function in capacities that both enforce and protect against violence. We understand documents, and documentation, through two primary functions: surveillance and preservation. The collection of materials capturing violence enacted upon marginalized communities, as well as how the practice of documentation itself can be a violent action of surveillance experienced by marginalized communities complicate the function of representation in library and archival collections. 

Announcing

The 2026 First Book Institute

May 31-June 6, 2026

Hosted by the Center for American Literary Studies (CALS) at Pennsylvania State University

Co-Directors

Priscilla Wald, R. Florence Brinkley Distinguished Professor of English, Duke University, and Co-Editor of American Literature

Sean X. Goudie, Director of the Center for American Literary Studies and Past Winner of the MLA Prize for a First Book

Special Topics CFP: The Profession

CEA 2026/DECLARATIONS

March 26-28, 2026

Hilton Charlotte University Place

SUBMISSION  DEADLINE NOVEMBER 1, 2025

JOIN US IN THE QUEEN CITY

On May 20, 1775—a year before the signing of the Declaration of Independence—the citizens of North Carolina declared their own independence from Great Britain in the Mecklenberg Declaration. Today, more than 250 years later, North Carolinians continue to celebrate “Meck Dec” and their history as "a free and independent people."

This call solicits essays for a critical collection provisionally titled, Other Mothers. The book seeks to update scholarship on mothers-in-the-academy from both critical perspectives on maternal theory as well as sociological frameworks. "Other mothers" might include mothers who have adopted, mothers who do not have residential custody of their children, women who have experienced fertility challenges, surrogate mothers, mothers utilizing surrogates, mothers with chronically ill children, mothers grieving the loss of children, and all others who face challenges outside the scope of traditional white, heterosexual, cisgender motherhood that have previously framed this discourse (in texts such as Mama PhD, Maternal Theory, etc).

The National Humanities Center (NHC) invites proposals for the Being Human Festival (US), a public humanities initiative for diverse, non-academic audiences across regions and subject areas. Events for this year’s Festival will take place April 18–May 2, 2026, and will be organized around the theme of “Between the Lines”–a space of hidden histories, shifting borders, and unspoken meanings.

In an era defined by rapid social, technological, and environmental change, the concept of (Re)generation offers a vital framework for reimagining general education. This panel invites scholars, educators, and academic leaders to explore how the principles of (Re)generation can revitalize curricula, pedagogy, and institutional practices in ways that not only respond to the challenges of the present but also prepare us for the future.

The NJCEA is seeking scholars interested in serving as peer reviewers for their open-source academic and creative journal the Watchung Review. Watchung Review is a peer-reviewed journal focused on current trends and cutting edge literary writing and research including work on rhetoric and composition as well as digital humanities. The journal aims to foster opportunities for scholars and practitioners to engage in disciplinary conversations critical to the advancement of the humanities by promoting the critical nexus of literature, writing theory, pedagogy and technology. Watchung Review is supported by the New Jersey College English Association. 

Faculty Development Programme

Translation as Dialogue: Creative License, Crossover and Current Developments

Organized by
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur

Important Dates

Starfish are echinoderms with a unique ability called autotomy where they can regenerate lost limbs. There are times when these creatures will even sacrifice a limb to save themselves. However, whether through natural causes or detriment, we learn that loss can equal a new beginning. These new appendages are not always exact matches. Nevertheless, these misshaped, Frankensteined pieces, marred by experience, can represent a new foundation that is more powerful, vigorous, efficient, and even healthier.