KPCEL 2023 Convening:
Formative Leadership and Character Education With and Through the Arts
Formative Leadership and Character Education With and Through the Arts
We are looking forward to convening with you again on April 18-20 in Chicago, IL!
The theme of the 2023 Convening will be Formative Leadership and Character Education With and Through the Arts.
Aristotle tells us that character is developed through emulation and practice and that this requires worthy models to emulate and communities that justify ethical practices. Educating for character, in other words, requires attention to ethos and culture. In a perfect world, a visionary character educator would be able to control for a shared moral outlook and organize a just culture. But in the imperfect and messy contexts of contemporary schooling (K-12 and higher education), a sense of shared moral fate and aspirational agreements about ethos and culture can be elusive. When our schools, departments, communities, or colleagues do not support or affirm ethical practices for moral development how should we proceed? How should we, as formative character educators, support the development of virtue within the fraught, complex circumstances of contemporary educational leadership?
In seeking to answer such questions, one often overlooked source is art. Drawing on the philosophy of aesthetics and examples of public art making, Doris Sommer invites us to consider the generative power of art to train our faculty of judgment. She holds that “making and thinking about art” compels participation and reanimates our commitment to shared human flourishing. Leaders who think like artists invite bottom-up creativity and innovation, but at the same time risk failure. Antanas Mockus, former mayor of Bogotá, puts it this way, “There’s a trap in this business of advising leaders to play games…because respectable officials want good results, and good results are not easy to ensure in games that are not daring enough to break bad habits.”* How might the arts and aesthetic education help us rethink the practices of formative leadership education?
Registration
Due by February 20, 2023. Complete this quick registration form.
Travel Reimbursement
Boston College will reimburse travel expenses up to $500 per participant. Boston College policy stipulates that you purchase the basic or economy fare (no extras) and provide an itemized receipt showing proof of payment. If you are driving, we will use the current mileage rate. To submit for mileage reimbursement you will need to print off a google map with the mileage to submit with your reimbursement form. Finally, for any Uber or Lyft reimbursement, Boston College will reimburse you for the base fare, but not the wait time or gratuity.
Reimbursements cannot be submitted until after convening. Please save your receipts.
Hotel Booking
The 2023 KPCEL will be held at Loews Chicago O’Hare Hotel (5300 N River Rd., Rosemont, IL 60018). Use the link to reserve your room by March 23nd.
PLEASE READ BEFORE MAKING YOUR RESERVATION.
The Kern Family Foundation will cover the cost of overnight accommodations as follows:
University of Birmingham MA Residential Attendees: Check-in on Sunday, April 16 – Check out on Tuesday, April 18.
KPCEL Attendees: Check-in on Tuesday, April 18 – Check out on Thursday, April 20.
Attendees will be responsible for the cost of any additional nights reserved ($166/night +tax). This amount includes rebate and placement fees that are required by our conference contract.
Attendees are responsible for making and updating (if necessary) their own hotel reservations. Attendees will be asked to submit a credit card when making the reservation. It will not be charged unless the attendee books additional nights, is a no-show, and/or incurs incidentals. In such cases, it would be charged after the attendee’s departure. Rooms provided by the KFF will not appear on the bill.
*Sommer, Doris, (2014). The work of art in the world : civic agency and public humanities. Duke University Press. (p. 36).
Call for Submissions
We invite proposals for three types of interactive sessions:
Structured conversations: Structured conversations provide space for focused reflection on a particular topic or theme. These sessions might take different forms, such as an “author meets critics” panel, a moderated interview, or a facilitated symposium about a focused topic.
Experiential sessions: Experiential sessions should be focused on actively engaging participants in a process or practice relaated to formative leadership education. Such a session might demonstrate a pedagogical innovation (e.g., an interactive case study) or introduce participants to a new tool (e.g., an assessment).
Roundtable Discussion: Roundtable discussions are spaces for small groups to explore with others a problem of practice or work in progress. Perhaps you are experiencing a leadership challenge, grappling with staff disengagement, or working through a specific approach to character and leadership education. If you would like to talk through this challenge with others who might be in a similar position, write up a summary of your problem or work in progress and we will coordinate roundtable discussions so that you can think and learn with the KPCEL community.
**Active working groups, your space on the program is earmarked. However, please submit a proposal so that the program committee can craft an intellectually robust and engaging agenda.
In your proposal provide a summary of up to 500 words. Indicate the presentation format and describe the content of your session. Where applicable, specify the contribution of each presenter. Please also address how your session relates to the theme. Criteria for review will be based on clarity of question or idea, potential interaction with attendees, relevance to formative leadership, and character education. If you would like to talk through your idea before submitting a proposal, you are welcome to contact Samantha Deane.
Submit proposals to Samantha Deane at samantha.deane@bc.edu by December 15, 2022. The subject of your email should read KPCEL 2023.
KPCEL2023_CONVENING_PROGRAM.pdfProgram
Formative Leadership and Character Education With and Through the Arts
Our gathering begins with a dinner on April 18. On April 19 we will provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and on the 20th we will provide breakfast and boxed lunches. A sketch of the convening is as follows.