September 26 & 27, 2025
Luther College, Decorah, IA

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Panel, Lightning Talks, and Workshop Proposals CLOSE MARCH 31
Poster Proposals CLOSE SEPTEMBER 10
UMACS seeks proposals for conference sessions that will further our mission to “advance a more sustainable and just Upper Midwest” and welcomes proposals from anyone working to advance sustainability in higher education (including students, staff, faculty and community members).
  • If you not from a higher education campus, please note that we will not accept business pitches. Please reach out to Megan Voorhees about presenting in our Exhibit Hall!
  • We will only accept up to two proposals from any individual presenter.
Types of Proposals Requested:

PANEL DISCUSSION (1 hour)
Panel discussions begin with short presentations on a conference theme by expert panelists followed by a moderated discussion with participants. We encourage you to have three to five people give lightning talks (five minutes each), followed by a facilitated roundtable discussion so that there is more engagement of the audience. 
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LIGHTNING TALKS
Have a presentation that you would like to share but don't want to organize a full panel or workshop? Propose a 5 minute presentation and UMACS will group together related presentations into panel discussions, and will recruit a facilitator to moderate the session.  

 WORKSHOP (1 hour)
Workshops allow presenters to share their knowledge, experience or techniques with attendees through active learning and other creative, interactive formats. Organizers must coordinate workshop participation and content, and moderate the program.

​POSTER SESSION
Posters offer participants a way to present conference-related material in a visual format. Posters will be available for viewing throughout the conference (easels will be provided). There will also be a dedicated poster session where presenters are asked to be available to discuss their posters. Please note, if your poster proposal is accepted, you will need to print your poster (information about the poser size will be sent if your poster proposal is accepted.). 

We welcome ideas for a different type of session, activity, social event, in-person field trip, pre-conference activity or service experience. Please reach out to Megan Voorhees to discuss your ideas.
Proposal Application Details 
Proposals are due by March 31, 2025
Poster proposals will be accepted until September 10 on a rolling basis. Note that it is possible that we will run out of room for posters so please submit your proposal as soon as possible.
The proposal submittal portal will request the following information:
  • Session Type
  • Title not to exceed 100 characters including spaces
  • Summary of proposed session not to exceed 100 words (if your proposal is accepted, this will be the description in the conference program. We encourage brevity!)
  • Any additional information that you would like to provide tht will help the selection committee determine if your proposal aligns with the review criteria. 
  • Name of Presenters/facilitator(s), Affiliation(s) (role on campus or in the community), and contact information. (If you have co-authors or collaborators for a project that are not presenting, we will ask you to share that information.)
  • If doing a lightning talk, do you know of other presenters submitting proposals with whom you would be interested in being on a panel?

Review Process
All proposals will be reviewed for inclusion by the UMACS Conference Planning Committee. 
Proposals are evaluated with the following criteria:
  • The session or activity aligns with the  UMACS mission to "advance a more sustainable and just Upper Midwest". 
  • The session summary is clear and accurately reflects the proposed content.
  • The session will provide new information, knowledge, skills, and/or creative applications of known information, etc.
  • Sessions, workshops, talks and posters may not serve for the promotion or advertising of businesses or services. (Please contact Megan Voorhees if you are interesting in sponsoring the conference and participating in the Exhibit Hall.)
  • Presenters will be notified about decisions by the end of April.​