CFP: AEPL Conference in the Rockies 2025

Posted on by

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Giving and the Receiving:

Spiritual Traditions and Teaching

AEPL SUMMER CONFERENCE

June 12-15, 2025

YMCA of the Rockies

WHO WE ARE

The Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning (AEPL), an official assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), as well as an officially recognized standing group of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), is open to all those interested in exploring the boundaries of teaching and learning beyond traditional disciplines and methodologies.

Areas of interest include but are not limited to aesthetic, emotional, and moral intelligence; archetypes; body wisdom; care in education; creativity; felt sense theory; healing; holistic learning; humanistic and transpersonal psychology; imaging; intuition; kinesthetic knowledge; meditation; narration as knowledge; reflective teaching; silence; spirituality; and visualization.

OUR HISTORY

In the 20th anniversary issue of JAEPL (Journal for the Assembly of Expanded Perspectives on Learning), Susan Schiller recounts some of the early days of AEPL and its deep connections to spiritual ideas and education.

Many of our founders, such as Alice Brand, James Moffett, Dick Graves, and Charles Suhor, according to Susan, were interested in “[t]he language of a spirit-based pedagogy” which to her “felt risky and without any camouflage.”

In addition, the very first AEPL conference was entitled, “Feeding the Mind, Nurturing the Spirit” (29). From this beginning, books, scholarly articles, and presentations flowed generously, including Susan’s own edited collection with Regina Foehr, The Spiritual Side of Writing: Releasing the Learner’s Whole Potential (1997).

Further evidence of this journey is contained in our assembly’s journal JAEPL (https://trace.tennessee.edu/jaepl/), including

  • Papoulis, “Spirituality and Composition: One Teacher’s Thought” (1996)

  • McCurrie, “Spiritual Identities, and the Teaching of Writing” (2003)

  • Duffy, “Community, Spirituality, and the Writing Classroom” (2003)

  • Wagar, “Composition as a Spiritual Discipline” (2016)

  • Briggs, Schunter, Melvin, “In the Name of the Spirit” (2013)

  • DePalma, “Fostering Ethical Engagement Across Religious Difference in the Context of Rhetorical Education” (2021)

MORE RECENTLY

This journey continued this last year with a winter 2024 workshop “Buddhist Philosophy and Practice in Pedagogy” led by longtime AEPL member Laurence Musgrove, and a summer symposium “Enacting Empathy in the Classroom and Beyond,” keynoted by Lisa Blankenship and Eric Leake, authors of Changing the Subject: A Theory of Rhetorical Empathy and Difficult Empathy and Rhetorical Encounters.

SAVE THE DATE: JUNE 12-15, 2025

Next on the horizon is our Summer 2025 conference, THE GIVING AND THE RECEIVING: SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS AND TEACHING, our first in-person gathering since the pandemic. We will continue to explore this path of spirituality in English education, research, and writing while being embraced by the beautifully sublime setting of the Colorado Mountains.

In the high comfort of the YMCA of the Rockies facilities just outside Estes Park, Colorado, scholars, teachers, and writers will share their research, approaches, and creative work, demonstrating new and innovative ways to link our professional lives to the abiding traditions of human spirituality from around the globe.

Literary studies, creative writing, English education, communication studies, theory, archival research, technical writing, multimedia learning, foreign language, and all other aspects of the fields of language, reading, and writing will be part of this ongoing conversation.

OUR OPEN INVITATION

Eager to hear from AEPL members and others willing to collaborate in our interests, we invite papers, panels, and workshops that interrogate and respond to this year’s theme. Questions you might consider when reflecting on possible connections between your research, teaching, and creative work:

  • How is spirituality variously defined in education?

  • In terms of spirituality, what are we giving to our students, colleagues, and profession? What are we receiving?

  • What beneficial role has spirituality played in teaching and learning?

  • How does spirituality manifest in classroom practice, collaborative research, writing centers, or creative writing?

  • Can the classroom be a spiritual site? Is online teaching less spiritual than face-to-face?

  • What is the risk of teaching spirituality “without camouflage”?

  • What spiritual traditions are central, marginalized, or othered in education?

  • What educational systems or disciplines within spiritual traditions benefit teaching and learning in contemporary education?

  • What spiritual texts have played an ongoing role in the literary canon?

  • What spiritual texts are othered?

  • What values, principles, or practices do spiritual traditions share at their core, and how might these benefit teaching and learning?

  • What is the role of contemplation and mindfulness in teaching, research, and creative work?

  • To what degree are school values statements spiritual?

Certainly, other questions and connections related to spiritual traditions, academic disciplines, and teaching are possible. We hope you will consider how your current interests connect and may be augmented by further consideration of how our assumptions about spirituality affect our professional lives and relationships with students and colleagues.

SUBMIT A PROPOSAL

So that you can plan ahead and arrange funding support, we have set the proposal due date for October 15, 2024, with notification no later than November 15, 2024.

Conference presentations can take the form of individual papers, panels, or workshops. Send proposals of approximately 500 words to aeplconf2025.

These proposals should identify your presentation’s intention related to the conference theme and relevant context in research, teaching, or creative work. Proposals should also include the names, titles, emails, and school affiliations of all presenters and workshop leaders. If you have specific digital and space/equipment needs, please indicate those as well.

All sessions will be scheduled on-site with ample time for discussion periods within a 60-minute period; therefore, individual presentations should also be understood as conversation starters, so you should plan for no more than 15 minutes. Full session panels and workshops will also be scheduled in 60-minute increments with time for participant exchange and discussion.

CONFERENCE EXPENSES

Given the nature and location of this in-person conference, we want to be as clear as possible how you might estimate your expenses, including fees, transportation, lodging, and meals related to this event.

AEPL Annual Membership Fee

$45

Conference Registration Fee by December 15, 2024 ($200 thereafter)

$150

Double Queen Lodging in Longs Peak Lodge (shared room $110)

$219/night

Meal plan at YMCA (Thursday supper through Sunday breakfast)

$172

The annual membership and conference fee will be paid through the AEPL conference website (TBA), and the lodging and meal plan will be reserved through the YMCA Group Reservations at the Central Reservation office by calling 888-613-9622.

While there is no requirement that conference participants lodge or eat at the YMCA facility, we do encourage staying on site. Certainly, the YMCA has other accommodations available, such as yurts, camping areas, and cabins. However, we have reserved a block of rooms for attendees near the meeting rooms and the dining hall for your convenience. These modern hotel-style rooms include two queen beds and a full bath, accommodating up to 4 persons. We would be happy to help you if you need assistance in finding a roommate, just indicate so on the registration form.

GETTING TO THE CONFERENCE

Review the YMCA website for information on how to access their facilities here: (https://www.ymcarockies.org/estes-park-center/stay/plan/getting-here/).

Additionally, the airport shuttle from Denver International Airport can be reserved in advance for $75 one way and round trip for $135. See more here: (https://www.estesparkshuttle.com/).

MAKE A VACATION OF IT!

For those wishing to come early or stay later, the YMCA has many activities for the family (https://www.ymcarockies.org/things-to-do/activities/?property=estes-park-center). You can also go to the delightful town of Estes Park (use the town shuttle!) or go into the national park, take a jeep tour, or hire a guide for fishing or exploring (https://www.ymcarockies.org/things-to-do/).

PLEASE CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION

We would be happy to discuss with you ideas for a presentation, panel, or workshop, or any other questions related to the conference, lodging, transportation, and meals. Just send your questions or concerns to Joonna and Laurence at aeplconf2025.

CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS

Laurence Musgrove and Joonna Trapp are the primary organizers and hosts of this conference; though we will also be putting out a call for an organizing committee to help review proposals, establish the program, assist in chairing panels, and identify other speakers. If you are interested in assisting in these ways, please contact us by September 15 at aeplconf2025.

LAURENCE AND JOONNA

  • Laurence Musgrove is a professor of English at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, where he teaches composition, literature, and creative writing from a Buddhist perspective. He has presented frequently at AEPL conferences, published articles, cartoons, and poems in JAEPL, and served as AEPL executive committee chair from 2009-2012. His latest book is A Stranger’s Heart, a poetry collection.

  • Joonna Smitherman Trapp worked for 15 years at small Christian Colleges before serving at Emory University as the Director of the Writing Program and the WAC program. Recently retired, she is still teaching in the summers for Emory and engaged in her own writing. She was co-editor of JAEPL for eight years with Brad Peters.

CONTINUING THE JOURNEY

We look forward to meeting you next summer in person and learning how you approach spiritual traditions and teaching, both the giving and the receiving.