Higher Education Conference
This biannual conference for higher education members will cover various topics to help prepare activists and leaders for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead as well as provide space for participant-led collaboration and problem-solving.
Higher Education Conference
Saturday, March 1, 2025 | 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Make plans to participate in the MTA's biannual conference for higher education members. The daylong program will include a panel discussion with higher ed leaders from around the country sharing strategies and successes around their fights for strong contracts; workshops on living wage campaigns, legislation, academic freedom, federal funding issues and professional development; and a book club meeting to discuss Lend and Rule: Fighting the Shadow Financialization of Public Universities. There will also be time during the day for planning, connecting and collaborating.
Location: DCU Center, 50 Foster Street, Worcester
learn more and register child care reimbursement
The conference is offered at no charge to MTA higher ed members.
Call for Papers/Posters
Call for Poster Presentations: Current Issues in Public Higher Education
The biennial MTA Higher Education Conference invites scholars, activists, organizers, and practitioners to submit poster presentations for our upcoming conference. We seek to highlight research/scholarship, case studies, best/innovative practices, and creative strategies that address pressing issues in public higher education and/or public higher ed unions.
Poster presentation topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Challenges or opportunities of AI: for teaching/learning; for workers and staff; for unions
- Crackdowns on campus protests and concerns about free-speech and academic freedom
- Funding challenges for public colleges and universities
- Enrollment in public colleges and universities
- Free community college – opportunities and issues
- Impending attacks on public sector unions
- Immigration crackdowns and ramifications for teaching, learning, and working in state colleges and universities
- The role of higher education unions in advocating for racial, gender, and economic equity
- Organizing strategies for strengthening public sector unions in higher education
- Legal and political challenges facing faculty and staff unions
- Collective bargaining trends and their impact on labor conditions in academia
- The intersection of union activism and student advocacy
- Strategies for enhancing union membership and engagement
- The role of unions in shaping higher education policy at the state and national levels
- Solidarity between faculty, staff, and students in advancing labor rights
Submission Guidelines
- Proposals should include a title, a 200-300 word abstract, and a short description of the relevance of the work to current issues in public sector higher education/unions.
- Posters should be visually engaging, clear, and concise, with a focus on key findings or issues. Presenters must be available for discussion during the designated poster session at the conference.
Submissions are due by Friday, Feb. 14. Presenters will be notified by Friday, Feb. 21.
We encourage a wide range of perspectives and experiences, particularly from underrepresented groups in the field of labor and higher education. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase your research, ideas, or advocacy work to a broad audience engaged in the future of public sector higher education unions.
QUESTIONS: Maria Hegbloom, mhegbloom@massteacher.org