18th Annual Conference Announcement and Registration

The Association for Core Texts and Courses (ACTC)
Eighteenth Annual Conference

Theme: Liberal Arts Education and the World: Inquiring into, Preparing for,
and Living in the Real World through Core Texts

Sponsored by

Carthage College

and Co-sponsored by

Austin College, Benedictine University, Dominican University and the University of Notre Dame

Thursday, March 29 – Sunday, April 1, 2012

The Hilton Milwaukee City Center Hotel, Milwaukee, WI

Plenary Speakers Thursday through Saturday: Robert Gurval, Associate Professor of Classics, UCLA; John Seery, Professor of Politics, Pomona College; Liba Taub, Professor, History and Philosophy of Science, Newnham College, Cambridge University; Richard Velkley, Professor of Philosophy, Tulane University; Richard Kamber, ACTC President and Professor of Philosophy, College of New Jersey. Additional speaker to be announced.

Sunday, Business Meeting, open to all.

Hotel reservations: See below.

ATTENDEE PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS: Registration and Proposals are entered through the Online Conference Registration Form at the bottom of this page. Each proposal—paper or panel—must include name(s), institutional affiliation(s), mailing and email addresses, and phone contact number(s) of presenter(s). All proposals should include paper title(s) and a one-paragraph abstract. PANEL PROPOSALS should organize a panel of specific presenters with a title for the panel. No more than two panel members from the same institution may be present on one panel, but panel proposals with only two presenters are welcome. ACTC will form panels out of individual submissions or complete panel submissions. PROPOSAL DEADLINE IS DECEMBER 31, 2011.

All potential conferees are welcome to contact the Executive Director of ACTC, J. Scott Lee, with questions about panels and proposals: jscottlee@prodigy.net.

ACTC papers are short (seminar-essay style, 5 pages, double-spaced), treat one core text for at least
¾-1 page, and develop the conference theme. The usual presentation time allotted to each paper is 12-15 minutes. Lively liberal arts discussions are a mark of ACTC conference panels. Thus, papers tend to range over theoretical considerations, particular interpretations, and classroom or programmatic practices—often involving all of these. Panel proposals should bear these characteristics in mind. Scholarly papers (up to 10 pages) may be submitted for publication in our selected proceedings after the conference, but only 5-page papers may be read at the conference. For publication criteria, see: http://www.coretexts.org/actc-publications/.

More than 200 openings will be available for panel presentations. While the submission of a complete paper is not required for acceptance on a panel, every attendee whose paper proposal has been accepted is expected to come to the conference with the completed paper.

Registration of your paper or panel proposal, or simply your intention to attend the conference, may be done through the ACTC website at www.coretexts.org. Submission before December 1 increases your chances of acceptance.

VOLUNTEERS FOR PANEL CHAIRS will be happily accepted. If you wish to volunteer, see the Online Registration Form, below. Only organizers of panels may serve as chairs and presenters at the same time; all other chairs may not present on the same panel.

Conference Theme

Liberal Arts Education and the World: Inquiring into, Preparing for, and Living in the Real World through Core Texts

Recent public and academic discussions have called into question whether the humanities and liberal arts have any role to play in the future of education and the real world. ACTC sees it differently. We believe that a Liberal Arts Education—in virtue of its wide scope of disciplines and traditions, the seminal texts it relies upon, and the capacities it builds in students—is more of this world than many narrower forms of education. Yet the case is hard to make to students, specialized educators, parents and, sometimes, employers. And it is complicated, because the liberal arts tradition of core text education admits of a very wide variety of what is real: the sacred, the apparent and concrete, permanent laws or constant change, ideas, wisdom or daily opinion, the practical and the speculative, the political, cultural and natural, and the artistic or scientific.

Yet, if liberal arts inquiry and education have prepared countless generations for any of these real worlds, why should we think they cannot do the same for the future?

Certainly, philosophical and rhetorical liberal arts inquiries into the character of citizens and the soundness of cultural productions, into the interpretation of sacred scriptures, and into the bases, establishment and influence of contemporary sciences attest to extraordinary explorations of what is real in the world. Quite possibly, liberal arts, humanistic education—particularly in the form core texts—has contributed to the development and understanding of freedom within democracy more than any other form of education.

Similarly, the liberal arts have been much concerned with the practical world in times which have some measure of analogy to our own. Whatever the scope of the liberal arts, there could, according to Cicero, be little question that it was meant for leadership. In China, for instance, the humanistic tradition of scholarship profoundly shaped that civilization’s development.

Nor should the realms of theology, sacred and secular literature, or the arts be thought of as removed from this world, even when they propose worlds we do not yet see or worlds that, at first blush, may seem to have never been. Vico made a case – still strong – that we know who we are by what we have made. Indeed, it may be just such works that allow us to imagine a better future than the past would seem to admit.

Further, core text curricula have shown again and again how the liberal arts are an interdisciplinary effort capable of helping us negotiate, shape, and understand the shifting lines of disciplines.

Finally, of course, there are the core texts of whole worlds of traditions: the West’s, the African, the Middle and Far East’s, the Indian, and the many minority traditions which intersect increasingly and help create a future world.

Today, the organizing committee of this conference believes that we should less lament any lost position of the liberal arts in the world or in higher education than use ancient and modern classic texts in our curricula as a probing way to think anew our own educations, circumstances, and innovations for the 21^st Century. We invite all educators to join us at ACTC’s 18^th Annual Conference to consider how we should inquire into, prepare for, and live in the real world through core texts.

CONFERENCE FEES AND MEMBERSHIP

Registration includes the price of six meals (Thursday night reception and dinner, three breakfasts and two lunches) regardless of days of attendance, plus admission to all activities and subvention for published proceedings of the conference.

All individuals attending ACTC are encouraged to become members. However, all individuals attending ACTC for the second time or more must become members, and all individuals presenting papers must become members. Institutional membership does not cover individual membership.

Registration fee: $ 315.00 U.S. (CAD price announced after agenda is set)

Individual membership: $ 50.00 U.S. (discounted to $ 25.00 if paid by personal check)

Your Thursday night guest(s): $ 50.00 U.S. each

Your Friday lunch guest(s): $ 25.00 U.S. each

Your Saturday lunch guest(s): $ 25.00 U.S. each

Teaching assistants/graduate students of ACTC Member Institutions (http://www.coretexts.org/organization/institutional-membership/) may apply for a limited number (20) of Conference Fee Scholarships: a subsidy of $ 265.00 in Conference Fee and Membership, resulting in a payment of $ 100. This includes all meals. Applicants must submit a proposal. These will be distributed on a first come, first served basis to up to two (2) applicants from a member institution.

Payment forms will be sent to you in early February, after you have received the agenda. Registration checks must be mailed no later than Friday, March 9. ACTC does not accept credit cards, because the cost of using them would have to be passed on to conference attendees. ACTC cannot pro-rate fees.

PAYMENTS POSTMARKED AFTER MARCH 9, 2012 WILL BE SUBJECT TO A LATE FEE OF $50.00. NO REFUNDS WILL BE MADE AFTER MARCH 21.

Parties interested in book displays or displays for programs or projects should contact the ACTC office at rgrundig@stmarys-ca.edu.

HOTEL RESERVATIONS:

The Hilton Milwaukee, City Center: Single or Double Rate: $ 98.00/night.

Reservations: ALL HOTEL RESERVATIONS WILL BE MADE THROUGH THE HILTON. Room reservations will be made directly with the Hilton Milwaukee City Center by calling the hotel room reservation department at 414 271 7250. Attendees should request the group rate for the ACTC 2012 Annual Conference.

Rooms in the “block” at above rate will be held until FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2011. After March 8, rooms and rates are subject to availability.

AIRPORTS AND GROUND TRANSPORTATION

Milwaukee’s airport is General Mitchell International Airport. One website selling inexpensive airline round trips is: http://www.flights24.com/airport-milwaukee.html?gclid=CO3Znfy57aoCFUKo4AodaXG4Og. Amtrak Hiawatha runs seven trains daily between Chicago and Milwaukee (six on Sunday): http://www.amtrakhiawatha.com/. The Supper Shuttle has reasonably priced rides from the Airport to the Hilton: http://www.shuttlefare.com.

Again, registration and panel or paper proposal are made immediately below through the Conference Registration Form

Questions? Write or call:

Rosa Grundig

ACTC Liberal Arts Institute at

Saint Mary’s College of California

1928 Saint Mary’s Road

Moraga, CA 94556; 925 631 8597;

rgrundig@stmarys-ca.edu