While higher education most assuredly faces challenges these days, we continue to have tremendous opportunities to make a difference in the lives of our students, and across faculty and staff networks. Our ability to make these good things happen often rests on the connections we can build, which help strengthen our ability and resolve to be successful in our endeavors.
To this end, on Friday, February 13, 2026, Eastern Michigan University will host its annual the CONNECT: Michigan Teaching & Learning Conference in collaboration with our local community college partners, including Henry Ford, Oakland, Schoolcraft, Washtenaw, and Wayne. The conference this year will live up to its name, as we work to build connections across our institutions and disciplines, in order to enhance student learning and success. This year’s CONNECT Conference marks an opportunity for all of us to learn about the innovative pedagogies our colleagues in Southeast Michigan present in the classroom, invite you to share your own strategies in this work, and think collectively about how we can nurture student learning and support student wellness in an era of mounting challenges. We can do better when we do it together.
The 2026 CONNECT: Michigan Teaching & Learning Conference will feature interactive presentations and workshops offered by faculty, lecturers, staff, and students. We are pleased to feature presentations that share innovative pedagogies and efforts to nurture student wellness, but we are equally interested in fostering opportunities and ideas to improve faculty, lecturer, and staff wellbeing and success.
We are grateful to our EMU co-sponsors for the generous support of the 2026 CONNECT Conference. Thank you to the Office of the President, the Division of Academic & Student Affairs, the College of Arts & Sciences, the Division of Enrollment Management, and the Office of Student Success and Academic Support Services.