a2ru national conference to be held at Penn State

The College of Arts and Architecture will host the national conference of the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities (a2ru), October 19-21, 2023, on the University Park campus. Penn State is a founding member of a2ru, a partnership of colleges and universities committed to transforming higher education to ensure the greatest possible institutional support for arts-integrative research, curricula, programs and creative practice among the arts, sciences and other disciplines. The theme of this year's conference is “What's Next?: Imagining New Educational Futures for Ourselves, Our Communities and Our Planet.”

The conference is an in-person event, with remote participation available for many sessions. Click here for both in-person and virtual registration. A small discount is available for Penn State attendees (must register using Penn State email address).

The conference theme is based on the idea that the study, practice and centrality of the arts in higher education are inextricably linked to the ever-changing social, cultural, political and environmental landscape. These changes force individuals to re-evaluate old mechanisms and ideas to meet the challenges of an uncertain future. The conference will feature sessions that present and explore new modes or models of practice, pedagogy, programming, research and community partnerships that respond to the present moment and imagine educational futures that have the potential to positively impact global communities through the arts.

Lara Fowler, chief sustainability officer and director of the Sustainability Institute at Penn State, is a featured speaker, along with Julian Chambliss, professor of English and the Val Berryman Curator of History at the MSU Museum, Michigan State University; David Sloane, professor and chair of urban planning and spatial analysis at the University of Southern California; and Tonika Lewis Johnson, creative executive officer, the Folded Map Project™, and co-founder, Englewood Arts Collective and Resident Association of Greater Englewood. See the full schedule here.

Faculty from across the College of Arts and Architecture also will be presenting.

Deadline for virtual registration is October 15.