ACMHE Conferences

Overview

The Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education (ACMHE), a multidisciplinary professional academic association of academic scholars and administrators, has convened conferences at Amherst College in Amherst, MA, annually since 2009. These gatherings explore the many ways that contemplative practices serve teaching, learning and knowing in higher education.

Integrity of Practice: A Contemplative Vision for Higher Education

The Fifth Annual ACMHE Conference
November 8-10, 2013 at Amherst College, Amherst, MA
$267.00 – $420.00 (Lower rates for ACMHE members; join the ACMHE)

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Over the past four years, members of the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education have gathered at annual conferences to explore contemplative approaches to all aspects of post-secondary education and to share their questions and discoveries.

During this time, the application of contemplative approaches in educational contexts has increased considerably, both inside and outside the classroom. Neuroscientific research and the increasing use of these practices have been demonstrating their many benefits. As a result, many more students and colleagues are aware of contemplative and reflective practices and are more open to applying them toward particular goals and outcomes.

With these developments in mind, this conference will explore how contemplative practices and perspectives are currently transforming higher education.

The conference will open with a plenary panel discussion that will initiate a conversation based on the following questions:

• As contemplative practices are being adapted and developed in higher education, how are we considering issues of integrity and tradition?
• How might commitments to inclusion and access be strengthened by a closer examination of the relationships between “integrity” and “diversity”? Might a focus on “integrity of practice” also weaken such commitments? How can our deepening practice help us hold these two possibilities as one?
• How do we bring the benefits of practice to address specific and urgent needs without losing their broader transformative potential?
• Can we viably assess the effects of our efforts without reducing the practices to narrow instruments?

This conference will include ample time for conversation and sharing among participants through open space sessions, interactive presentations, contemplative practices, panels, and round table and plenary discussions.

When contemplative methods are employed, a variety of outcomes are possible. When practices are used skillfully, the space that they create for students to encounter the emotional, ethical, intellectual and even physical aspects of what they are learning can bring about positive outcomes: both material and immaterial, measurable and immeasurable.

Presentation proposals were accepted through July 1, 2013. Thank you for your interest in presenting at the 2013 conference!

Past Conference Programs

2012 Conference: Contemplative Approaches in the Diverse Academic Community: Inquiry, Connection, Creativity, and Insight (.pdf)

2011 Conference: The Contemplative Campus (.pdf)

2010 Conference: The Contemplative Academy (.pdf)

2009 Conference: The Contemplative Heart of Higher Education (.pdf)

2012 ACMHE Conference Keynote

Contemplating Race, Law, and Justice: Some Notes on Pedagogy for Changing the World
Rhonda V. Magee, Chair of the Board of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, Professor of Law and Co-Director, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of San Francisco