Call for Proposals

2025 UTeach STEM Educators Conference Call for Proposals

Please email us at conference@uteach.utexas.edu if you have questions.

Belonging as a Catalyst for STEM Learning

This is an opportune moment to take decisive actions! The programs and people in the UTeach network are leaders in a national community working to increase the quality of and access to STEM education, and we continue to expand, innovate, and navigate new spaces.

We extend an invitation to come together, pool our collective knowledge and experience, and rejuvenate ourselves for the journey ahead. We welcome submissions from various stakeholders, including UTeach program faculty, staff, students, and alumni, as well as professionals in higher education and K–12 institutions and organizations involved in STEM education. 

We are particularly interested in interactive sessions that stimulate discourse, encourage introspection, foster participant-centered engagement, and demonstrate effective practices and strategies.

All sessions, regardless of format, are one hour long.

Session Strands

Strand 1: Strengthening Curriculum and Instruction

Sessions related to innovation in curricular and/or course design and instructional delivery within K–12 and higher education.

Examples: critical pedagogical and curricular approaches, transformative pedagogical and curricular approaches, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) in educational spaces, innovation in inquiry approaches in STEM, reimagining student use of technology

Strand 2: Community Building and Support

Sessions exploring and enhancing the dynamics of community building and support, with a focus on fostering well-being, belonging, and meaningful connections.

Examples: social and emotional learning, culturally responsive teaching, crisis response and resilience, building inclusive communities, supporting UTeach student organizations, creating UTeach student spaces with focus on community-building, development for mentor teachers, addressing teacher and student burnout

Strand 3: Enhancing UTeach

Sessions concentrating on UTeach program operational framework, funding, and student recruitment and support. Sessions may also address variations in courses and sequencing from an operational perspective, as distinct from instructional methodologies explored in a different strand.

Examples: UTeach program implementation, operational best practices, detailed course sequencing variations, recruitment and student support strategies, development or fundraising activities

Strand 4: Research, Inquiries, and Investigations

Sessions that are practitioner-based, including action research, clinical experiences, inquiry, research conducted in your UTeach program, and collaborative research projects, as well as research in progress. Note: If we get two presentations that fit well together, we may schedule both presentations during a one-hour session and ask presenters to deliver short lightning talks during that time. 

Examples: practitioner-based research, action research, clinical experiences, inquiry, UTeach programs, K–12 and higher ed STEM education

Strand 5: UTeach Preservice Teacher Topics

Practical sessions for preservice teachers in UTeach programs. 

Examples: navigating courses and fieldwork, résumé and interview tips, classroom management, supporting diverse populations in the classroom, managing self-care, leveraging student support structures, embracing leadership opportunities, surviving the first year in the classroom 

Posters

Anyone can submit a poster proposal. Posters can have only two presenters. 

Students who submit posters are automatically entered into the student poster contest. Student posters are eligible for the contest only if both presenters are undergraduates.

Find poster competition criteria and other poster information here.

Student Poster Strands

Strand 1: Research: Posters focused on a research project conducted for a UTeach course.

Strand 2: Course Exposition: Posters focused on an essential idea of a UTeach course. Examples: lesson plans or units, class projects, explorations of course concepts

Strand 3: Program Exposition: Posters focused on an essential element of the UTeach program. Examples: student organizations, internships, portfolios, student-led recruitment, peer advising, community space

Non-Student Posters

Non-student posters will not be added to the student poster contest. Presenters may include graduate students, inservice K–12 teachers, alumni, or other participant categories (e.g., UTeach program faculty, lab PI, mentors, etc.). 

Non-student posters can fall into any of categories from the session strands.