The third annual Women in Educational Leadership Symposium (WIELS) will be held on the campus of Appalachian State University, Friday, October 5 and Saturday, October 6, 2108.
The purpose of WIELS is to bring women together to share, learn, and grow in leadership. Women who are interested in learning from others and those who are willing to share skills and expertise are urged to attend. This conference aims to provide personalized learning and mentoring opportunities for those who aspire to become or currently serve as educational leaders. The conference theme is Advancing the Leader Within: Building Capacity.
Call for Proposals
Attendees are urged to submit proposals on salient issues, skills, and experiences affecting women leaders. Conference proposals are due by June 15.
WIELS Session Categories
Session categories follow:
Paper Session
The purpose of the paper session is (1) to report research results, (2) to analyze policy and practice issues, or (3) to advance philosophical, conceptual, or theoretical thought about women in leadership. The proposal summary should include a statement of purpose, theoretical framework, findings, and conclusions. Research reports must include data sources and methods. The reference section is required. Sessions will include two 20-minute presentations, followed by a 10-minute discussion period per paper. Sessions will include two papers of similar content. Presenters are expected to provide electronic copies of papers.
Practice/Performance
The purpose of the practice/performance session is to address the “how to” questions of real-life job situations in such a way as to sharpen the skills and add to the leadership toolbox. Presenters are urged to consider role-play, modeling, coaching and other types of performance. Sessions will include two 30-minute presentations paired by similar content.
Critical Conversation
The purpose of the critical conversation session is to provide time and space to discuss specific “hot button” or “stark truth” issues for women in leadership through the use of provocative questions, stories from the field, or performance formats. Sessions will include two 30-minute presentations paired by similar content.
Panel Discussion
The purpose of the panel session is to focus on a specific topic of interest for women leaders. Panelists may represent higher education, community college, Pk-12 schools, educational consultants, and/or other sectors. These 60-minute sessions will follow one of the following formats: (1) short, individual panel member presentations, followed by audience discussion, questions and answers, or (2) a focused question and answer format led by an individual moderator facilitating prepared and audience generated questions addressed to a panel of experts.
Ignite
The purpose of the ignite session is to stimulate lively conversation through a cluster of five-minute presentations. The purpose of each presentation is to highlight provocative questions, points to ponder, innovative ideas/practices, lesser-known strategies and tools of practice, problems of practice, collaborations, developing and/or new information in the field, etc. During the session, all ignites are presented first and followed by a question and answer/discussion period where the audience is brought into conversation with presenters.
Format: Each five-minute presentation can include no more than 20 slides, displayed at approximately four slides per minute while the presenter addresses attendees. The proposal is for one 5-minute presentation. Examples and further ignite session information can be found here:
Poster Wall
The purpose of the poster wall is to provide a space for individually created depictions focused on conceptual thinking or frameworks about women as leaders, in-process research about the personal and professional lives of women leaders, and/or pictorial representations of women leaders at work. Posters will be displayed in a prominent place during the conference. Conversations with poster creators will take place at a specific time during the conference. Materials for displaying posters will be provided.
Graduate Student Roundtable
The purpose of the graduate student roundtable is to highlight current graduate student in-process or completed research. Students will be allotted 10 minutes to present their work. Presentations will be followed with time for feedback and comment from attendees focused on moving the research forward toward completion or publication. Sessions are 60 minutes in length.
Proposal Submission Procedure
All proposals should include these specified sections, easily identified in the proposal by heading:
- Title
- Author Name(s), Title(s), Institution(s), Current Email Address(es)
Place an asterisk * by name of proposal contact person. - Session Category
Choose from options outlined above. - Abstract
In a 120- to 250-word abstract, written for program publication, describe the (1) purpose, (2) session category, (3) content, (4) anticipated audience, (5) attendee participation, learning activity, or “take away.” Note: The abstract will be printed in the program. Every effort should be made to submit the abstract in a ready-for-publication format. - Goals and Objectives of Session
- Theoretical/Conceptual Framework and Literature Review (as appropriate, for presentations involving research)
Provide for papers or other research presentation formats. - Summary of Session Content
Provide enough detail for clear understanding of content and/or progression of session from beginning to end. - Statement Describing Discussion/Takeaway Emphases
- References (as appropriate )
Proposals are to be no more than two single-spaced pages in length, excluding references, and written in Times New Roman, 12-point font.
Specific Submission Title Formatting
The completed proposal must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document to the conference proposal submission site: conferenceproposal@appstate.edu
The Word document file name should follow this format: [Presenter last name]_[Presenter last name]_[Session Title]
WIELS Proposal Deadlines
Submit proposals by June 15, 2018 to: conferenceproposal@appstate.edu
Acceptance letters will be sent by email on or before June 30, 2018.
Further information about the conference can be found at: wiels.appstate.edu
Please direct questions to: Dr. Precious Mudiwa, WIELS Executive Director or Dr. Roma Angel, WIELS Associate Executive Director.
