ACTC
The Association for Core Texts and Courses

"Supporting Liberal Arts Core Text Curricula Around the World"

2004 Conference

THE ASSOCIATION FOR CORE TEXTS AND COURSES (ACTC) TENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
THEME: CORE TEXTS, COMMUNITY AND CULTURE:
WORKING TOGETHER IN LIBERAL EDUCATION?
Coming September 30th new website: coretexts.org or actc-online.org
Sponsored by
The University of Dallas, Constantin College
and co-sponsored by the Honors Program of Baylor University and the Western Cultural Heritage Program of the University of Texas at El Paso
Thursday, April 15 - Sunday, April 18, 2004
The Harvey Hotel
Irving, Texas

AGENDA AND SPEAKERS:

Thursday evening, April 15, 2004: Opening Reception, Dinner, and Opening Plenary Speaker: PAUL WOODRUFF, Chair, Plan II Honors Program, University of Texas at Austin, author of Reverence, Oxford U.P. 2002.
Science and Humanities Speaker: JAMES HOWARD BEALL, Tutor, St. John’s College and Senior Adjunct Professor, Institute for Computational and Sciences and Informatics, George Mason University.
ACTC President’s Address: PHILLIP SLOAN, Chair, Program of Liberal Studies, University of Notre Dame
Humanities and Arts Speaker: ROBERT O’MEALLY, Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English, Columbia University, contributing editor, The Jazz Cadence of American Culture

Friday and Saturday Attendee Panels all day: interdisciplinary and science, social science, humanistic and artistic disciplines.

Sunday, April 18: Business meeting.

ATTENDEE PANELS HAVE MORE THAN 150 OPENINGS FOR PAPERS AND WE PUBLISH OUR SELECTED PROCEEDINGS.

CORE TEXTS, COMMUNITY, AND CULTURE:
WORKING TOGETHER IN LIBERAL EDUCATION?

The question we pose is an inquiry. Recent research in the ACTC project “Trends in the Liberal Arts Core” has shown the many ways in which core texts, community, and culture coalesce to form sound, liberal education. Locally, core text programs are often central to building the community and culture of a campus. Nationally, many programs look core text programs to help students become democratic citizens. More broadly, within the last decade many core text programs expanded and shifted texts, faculty members, and pedagogies to accommodate the meeting of Western European, African American, Native American, African, and Asian cultures, as well as the discovery of the gendered relations among women and men. Not only have these texts, courses, and programs produced novel curricula, but they have also raised serious questions. Can core texts be used to generate cultures on campus – cultures of learning and reading, cultures of discussion and democracy, cultures of a nation amidst many diverse cultures? If core texts can be central to communities, how much and how far can they model liberal education for our colleges and universities? Are texts, teaching, discussion, or learning the keystones to effective educational cultures? What happens when we pull the texts out of the community or culture? Do we have narratives or compiled evidence beyond self-assurances that our texts help to build communities and cultures? How might we use core text curricula or core text pedagogy to build a community – of any sort – or a diversity of cultures? ACTC, as always, encourages papers on individual texts and papers from representatives of programs to discuss how core texts help us – students, teachers, adults, citizens – to work together. Finally, ACTC asks for papers about effective ways in which faculty working together in liberal education have used core texts to produce communities and cultures of learning – for students and faculty alike.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION AND MEMBERSHIP:

Registration includes price of six meals, including the Thursday night reception and dinner, three breakfasts and two lunches, regardless of days of attendance, plus admission to all activities, & subvention for published proceedings of the conference.
Registration fee: $ 240 U.S./ 335 $ CA / registrant. Individual membership: $ 50 US/ 70 CAD Thursday night guests, $ 45 U.S./ 63 CAD. Registration forms will be sent to you in January, but you may register early by calling (972) 721 4062 and asking for Carol Little.

Parties interested in displays for their programs or projects should contact the ACTC office at jscottlee@prodigy.net

HOTEL REGISTRATION, AIRFARE, CAR RENTALS:

Harvey Hotel. Rates are: $ 89 U.S. plus tax (972) 929 4500. Specify ACTC or Association for Core Texts and Courses when asking for a reservation. Room block held only until March 24, 2004.

American Airlines. Call (800) 433 1790. Use authorization code, 3944AF when you call. Discounts between 15% and 5% are available on lowest fares.

Avis car rentals. Call (800) 331 1600, use discount #D087201.

Frequently, attendees wish to bring guests to the Thursday night reception and dinner: Thursday night guests, $ 45 U.S./ 63 CAD

ACTC’s costs for the conference depend on conference attendees booking at the Harvey Hotel (972) 929 4500. ACTC strongly urges attendees to take advantage of the truly fine rates offered by the hotel. Conference fees are structured to represent Canadian and U.S. dollars.

We will gladly help you to develop panel ideas. A faculty volunteer will be contacting you around October 15th, November 15th or December 1st-10th to remind you about the conference. You may email your proposal to Carol Little, clittle@udallas.edu and send a backup copy to jscottlee@prodigy.net, or you may land mail a copy to:

Carol Little
The ACTC Liberal Arts Institute at the University of Dallas
1845 E. Northgate Dr.
Irving, TX 75062
(972) 721 4062/(908) 359 7560
fax: (972)-721-4076