This 2023 student conference is a joint initiative between UAlbany and UC Davis focused on the theme of connection in all its significations.

Goals and Outcomes:

Facilitating Collaborative Exploration

This one-day conference provides a direct platform for students to engage in interdisciplinary work and shared research alongside their peers on the theme of "Connections." The event uniquely offers an opportunity for students to collaborate across departments and campuses from the East to the West Coast and beyond, allowing for more expansive and diversified thinking with one another.

The conference additionally brings together graduate and undergraduate students, who often remain separated within the institution, to present their work in a cooperative environment. Coast to Coast Connections aims to forge solidarity across the country, allowing students to interact with and experience a larger and more varied collection of research and creative writing than an exclusively local symposium traditionally allows.

The theme of "Connections" is inspired by ideas and topics focusing on: identity and place-making through kinship; interspecies and posthuman relationships; deconstruction and decolonization of borders/boundaries; transportation, transformation, and passage; and intertextuality/relationality across all spaces physical and virtual.

Conference Format

This one-day conference is uniquely held in hybrid/virtual format: the UAlbany and UC Davis campuses will each meet in-person respectively for the event, then connect virtually over Discord with the other institution for panels, talks from our keynote speakers, and open discussion.

Those who attend physically at either the UAlbany or UC Davis campus (specific locations to be announced by March) will have the opportunity at each panel to interact and communicate with the other campus, as well as all virtual participants, through Discord on large projectors or screens (dependent on the campus/room).

Those who participate or attend virtually will have the option to join any panel, talk, or meeting room through the Discord links on the Schedule page, where they will be able to see and interact with other virtual participants as well as those in the physical spaces at UAlbany and UC Davis.

Students can also participate in a virtual mentorship workshop leading up to the event for guidance and advice on presenting at conferences, how to get the most out of the event, and more. This workshop will be held by experienced graduate students and open to all participants.

There are no conference registration or participation fees upon acceptance.