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24th Annual Faculty Conference on Teaching Excellence

Keeping the Promise: Building Academic Bridges to Support Student Success

January 7 & 8, 2026  

Howard Gittis Student Center, Temple University

Temple University's Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) invites proposals for the 24th Annual Faculty Conference on Teaching Excellence. This year’s conference is a 2-day in-person event at Temple University’s main campus.

What does it mean to truly welcome admitted students into our community of learners? Whether they are beginning their postsecondary education journey, finding their way in our disciplinary communities, entering professional or graduate studies or transitioning from students to practitioners, how can we keep the promise of discovery, access and academic excellence that we extend to our students? As our student population and the realities of teaching in higher education are continuously changing, so too must we adapt, thinking intentionally about ways to make learning accessible and meaningful to our richly diverse student population. What better way to continue growing as educators than with the support of our peers and experts in the field of higher education. Join us for the CAT’s 24th Annual Faculty Conference to gain practical ideas for designing learning experiences that leverage student assets, increase the accessibility of our courses and learning environments, and are grounded in evidence-based principles for how learning works. Keynote and plenary speakers Dr. Joshua Eyler and Dr. Tia McNair will share insights and actionable strategies based on their research into the science of human learning and how institutions can promote student success and achievement. 

We invite you to submit proposals to share your ideas, insights, research, and strategies so that we can all learn together how to motivate our students for deeper learning.

Please consider submitting a proposal for a breakout session, teaching innovation exhibition, or lightning talk. All proposals will be blind-reviewed. Remember to anonymize your proposal by removing institutional or personal identification information (i.e. XX University instead of Temple University). Your proposal should be grounded in the research on teaching and learning, be applicable to a variety of disciplines, and be non-commercial. 

Please note that presenters must register for the conference. 

Proposal submissions are due on October 5, 2025.

 

Breakout Sessions

Interactive 45-minute breakout sessions should present creative and effective ways to engage students, deepen learning, harness emotion in the classroom, teach with technology, and maximize the benefits of different modalities of teaching in higher education. Proposals should be grounded in the research on teaching and learning, and should clearly describe in which ways you will be actively engaging participants in activities that allow them to reflect, discuss and practice session concepts.

Your proposal must include:

  • Title (10 words maximum)
  • Abstract (50 words maximum)
  • Brief description and outline of session, including plan for actively engaging participants in the session (500 words maximum)
  • Citations/references

Breakout Sessions Will be Reviewed Using the Following Criteria:

  • The proposal clearly explains the teaching project, strategy, or innovation
  • The topic of the proposal is of interest to a faculty (teaching) audience
  • There is a clear plan for facilitating an interactive session
  • The proposal is grounded in the research on teaching and learning

To submit your proposal, please click on the link below, fill in your information, and upload your proposal as a Word Document. Please remember to anonymize your proposal by removing institutional or personal identification information (i.e. XX University instead of Temple University) from your submitted docs. You will receive notification via email concerning the acceptance of your breakout session to the conference by early November.

Submit a breakout session proposal (DUE October 5)

Lightning Talks

Lightning Talks are 15-minute opportunities for faculty to learn about a teaching idea that you have implemented. The talk should be designed to provide a brief (no longer than 7 minutes) introduction and explanation of the idea followed by Q&A. The facilitator will give the same talk four times during the session, providing participants the opportunity to visit four different talks. Note that lightning talks take place in a small group presentation format at a round conference table. Presenters may bring a device if technology is needed.

 Your proposal must include:

  • Lightning Talk title (10 words maximum)
  • Abstract (25 words maximum)
  • Brief description of the lightning talk (100 words maximum)
  • Citations/references

Lightning Talks Will be Reviewed Using the Following Criteria:

  • The proposal clearly explains the teaching project, strategy, or innovation
  • The topic of the proposal is of interest to a faculty (teaching) audience
  • The teaching project, strategy, or innovation can be explained in 7 minutes

To submit your proposal, please click on the link below, fill in your information, and upload your proposal as a Word Document. Remember to anonymize your proposal by removing institutional or personal identification information (i.e. XX University instead of Temple University) from your attached document You will receive notification via email concerning the acceptance of your lightning talk to the conference by early November.

Submit a lightning talk proposal (DUE October 5)

Teaching Innovation Exhibition (NEW FORMAT!)

We invite submissions that highlight creative projects, effective practices, and/or scholarship related to teaching and learning within higher education. This includes, but is not limited to, creative projects that showcase learning innovation and application in the classroom, practices demonstrating engagement within a learning environment, and research focused on your instruction and your students’ learning. 

Applicants are welcome to submit and exhibit projects in any format (e.g., assignment instructions, materials used in demonstrations, activity prompts, video, interactive technology, audio podcasts, and/or traditional research poster). Please include a full description of installation needs in your submission – keep in mind that this is a shared space and you will not have access to audio/visual hardware. For example, if you need a computer to be present in the exhibition, you will need to provide the computer. Please email with any questions related to installation.

Note: All showcase materials should fit on a 6' rectangular table. At least one of the presenters must be present during the session at the conference to have discussions with participants about their work as they circulate through the showcase.  

Your Teaching Innovation Exhibition proposal must include:

  • Title
  • Abstract (50 words maximum)
  • Description of your work to be highlighted in your Teaching Innovation Exhibition (500 word maximum)
    • Include scholarly references when and where necessary and present evidence of the impact if possible  
    • Please note in your submission the format of your project/proposal (e.g., video, interactive technology, audio podcasts, and/or traditional research poster)

Teaching Innovation Exhibition Submissions Will be Reviewed Using the Following Criteria:

  • The proposal clearly explains the project, strategy, practice or innovation
  • The topic of the proposal is of interest to a faculty (teaching) audience
  • The proposal includes scholarship and citations when and where necessary, and includes evidence to support implications and conclusions that demonstrate impact on learning 

To submit your proposal, please click on the link below, fill in your information, and upload your proposal as a Word Document. Remember to anonymize your proposal by removing institutional or personal identification information (i.e. XX University instead of Temple University) from your attached document. You will receive notification via email concerning the acceptance of your poster to the conference by early November.

Submit a showcase proposal (DUE October 5)

We look forward to receiving your proposals! Thank you for your interest in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching’s Annual Faculty Conference for Teaching Excellence and for your contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning.  

For questions about the call for proposals, please contact

For questions about the conference, please contact Sara Vann at

Keynote and Plenary Speaker Information

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Joshua Eyler

Dr. Joshua Eyler, Ph.D. is Senior Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning and Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Mississippi. He previously worked on teaching and learning initiatives at Columbus State University, George Mason University, and Rice University. Eyler is the author of Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students and What We Can Do About It, an indictment of the grading system in American schools and colleges―and a blueprint for how we can change it, and the acclaimed book How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching, which in 2019 Book Authority named one of the “100 Best Education Books of All Time”. Called a “splendid repository of ways to rethink how we teach college” by the Los Angeles Review of Books, it was named a “Book of the Year” in the Chicago Tribune. With his colleague Emily Donahoe, he has a new book called How to Grade: Alternative Models for the College Classroom under advance contract with Princeton University Press.

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Tia Brown McNair

Dr. Tia Brown McNair is a nationally recognized leader on inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, student readiness, equity in student outcomes, and campus climate. She is a Partner at Sova, a company that facilitates transformative change through actionable strategies and practical implementation support. Prior to joining Sova, she was the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success and Executive Director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers. In her senior leadership position at AAC&U, she oversaw both funded projects and AAC&U’s continuing programs on inclusive excellence, high-impact practices (HIPs), student success, and campus climate, and directed AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on HIPs and Student Success, and TRHT Campus Centers. She is the co-author of From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education (January 2020) and Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success (July 2016 and August 2022 Second edition). McNair is the editor of Strengthening Campus Communities Through the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Framework published by Routledge in June 2024. In March 2025, she received the Facilitator Award at Stetson Law’s 46th Annual National Conference on Law & Higher Education. NASPA, the association of Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, named McNair the 2024 recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Higher Education Award. In May 2023, McNair received an honorary degree from Franklin Pierce University for her national work to dismantle a false belief in a hierarchy of human value.