Dear Marmam Community: The Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) is pleased to announce the call for proposals for its 2012 annual conference, to be held next June in Santa Clara, California. AESS is especially interested in recruiting sessions from the marine mammal conservation and science community, and I encourage you to review the CFP below. The contact information for the AESS 2012 program chair is given at the end of the email, or I am happy to answer questions as well. AESS is proud to list the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission among its conference sponsors these past two years. We believe that the challenges and complexity of marine mammal conservation represent well the core values of the AESS community, and hope to continue to use our conferences to provide a supportive forum at which marine mammal conservation practitioners can present their work and network with colleagues in and outside of the field of marine mammal conservation. Sincerely, Rich Wallace Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Ursinus College Collegeville, PA p.s. apologies for cross-postings! [https://documents.clubexpress.com/clubs/939971/graphics/AESS_Announccement_Banner.jpg]<http://aess.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=0&club_id=939971> <http://aess.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=0&club_id=939971> AESS 2012 Annual Meeting<http://www.aess.info/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=939971&module_id=105521> Conference Theme: "Preparing for our Environmental Future" 21-24 June, Santa Clara, California, U.S.A. Call for Sessions Workshops, Symposia, Panels, and Roundtables The 2012 annual meeting of the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) will be held on 21-24 June 2012 in sunny Santa Clara, California. We invite your participation. Our call for conference presentations occurs in two parts: 1) Call for Sessions (Deadline: 1 December 2011) 2) Call for Individual Papers/Presentations (Deadline: 1 March 2012) Call for Sessions In this first call we are soliciting proposals for pre-organized workshops, symposia, panels, and roundtables in which all (or a substantial number of) scholars have already agreed to participate. Session proposal deadline: 1 December 2011. Call for individual Papers/Presentations The second call is for individual abstracts for all forms of oral and poster presentations. This call will follow the close of the call for sessions. AESS will make every effort to group individual papers/presentations together as thematic sessions, and may assign individual proposals to unfilled sessions developed from the first call. Individual proposal deadline: 1 March 2012. Online session proposal form will be available on November 3, 2011 Check back here <http://www.aess.info/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=939971&module_id=105521> at that time to submit your proposal. ________________________________ HOW TO ORGANIZE A SESSION We encourage you to organize a session. Get a group together, decide the theme and title of your session, write the proposal, and submit it to us. If you have an idea for a session and would like to find like-minded people, we encourage you to use the recently launched AESS Listserv (or any other listserv or professional networking venue). Put out your idea out, have people contact you, and organize your session. A submitted session proposal must have a partial or full set of participants. We are not soliciting solely ideas for sessions; we are soliciting ideas together with people who want to present on those ideas. In particular, we encourage sessions that include multiple disciplines, professions, and perspectives. Proposals for workshops, symposia, and panels must include an assigned chair or coordinator anda list of confirmed and/or invited presenters; proposals for roundtables mustinclude an assigned coordinator for the session. This call for session is a bottom-up opportunity for you to help shape the conference program. ________________________________ SESSION TYPES There are four categories of sessions: 1. Workshops 2. Discussion Symposia 3. Presentation Panels 4. Mealtime Roundtables. 1) Workshops Workshops are interactive (as opposed to lecture-based) and will generally have a formal educational or professional development component. Content may include presentations, discussions, exercises, formal training, or other methods of promoting heuristic goals. Workshops are expected to have clear goals and outcomes. Workshops will be held Thursday, June 21. They are either half-day (3-hour) or full-day (6-hour) duration. Half-day workshops will be scheduled during either the morning (9:00 am - 12:00 noon) or afternoon (1:00- 4:00 pm). Full-day workshops will occupy both the morning and afternoon time slots divided by a one-hour lunch break. A workshop proposal must contain (in 750 words or less): * Workshop title * Length (half-day or full-day) * Organizer(s) name, affiliation, and contact information * Proposed theme and justification * Expected outcomes and, if appropriate, plans for communication of results * A list of confirmed presenters or co-organizers. Although no abstract is required of workshop presenters, all presenters and co-organizers must register by the conference's early registration deadline or the workshop may be canceled. 2) Discussion Symposia Discussion symposia are designed for focused discussion on a selected topic. Playing off the original ancient Greek symposia, the emphasis is on in-depth intellectual exchange. Opening remarks are appropriate but it is not expected that participants will deliver a formal presentation. Discussion symposiaare1.5 hours in length, and will take place on June 22, 23, and 24in parallelwith presentation panels and other symposia. Discussion symposiaconsist of 4-6 participants and must be fully organized in advance. In only rare cases will the Program Committee add a member to a symposium. A symposium proposal must contain (in 300 words or less): * Symposium title * Organizer(s) name, affiliation and complete contact information * Moderator, who facilitates the discussion and who may or may not be the same person as the organizer * Proposed theme and justification * A list of confirmed participants. The critical elements of a symposium proposal are the theme and justification, and corralling a group of confirmed participants. It must be made clear why the topic and group warrant the time block offered by the symposium format. 3) Presentation Panels Presentation panels are designed for presentation of research or other scholarly AESS-related endeavors. They consist of3-4 presenterswho are each allotted approximately 20-30 minutes (time includes presentation and discussion). Presentation panelsare1.5 hours in length, and will take place on June 22, 23, and 24in parallelwith symposia and otherpresentation panels. A panel proposal must contain (in 300 words or less): * Panel session title * Organizer(s) name, affiliation and contact information * Chair, who facilitates the presentation and who may or may not be the same person as the organizer * Proposed theme and justification * A list of participants (either tentative or confirmed), and their presentation titles. If your presentation panel is accepted, all speakers will be required to submit an abstract during the call for individual abstracts. It is the responsibility of the panel organizer to make sure that all speakers submit their abstract and follow the registration requirements.The organizer, in consultation with panel members, can adjust overall presentation and discussion times. For partially full panels, the AESS Program Committee will populate the panel up to a maximum of four (4) presenters. 4) Mealtime Roundtables Mealtime roundtables are designed to foster informal discussion around a topic of general and collective interest to the AESS community. Roundtables are scheduled during mealtimes on June 22 and 23, either breakfast or lunch, at the designated conference dining location, where they will have a table set aside. Because of the time limits associated with mealtimes, all roundtables will be one hour in length (howeverthey may continue formally or informally beyond the designated roundtable period). Roundtable proposals are contingent only on the strength of the central idea being proposed for discussion and the willingness of the submitter to facilitate the discussion. We will only accept roundtable proposals that include one or more confirmed facilitator. A roundtable proposal must contain (in 200 words or less): * Roundtable title * Organizer/facilitator's name, affiliation and contact information * Proposed theme and justification ________________________________ ADDRESSING THE CONFERENCE THEME This year's conference theme is "Preparing for our Environmental Future." Sessions that directly address the conference theme will be designated with a special logo in the final program. It is not a requirement that all sessions address the theme. However, if your session is designed to provide a response to the theme in some manner or another, please include this in your submitted proposal. If approved by the Program Committee, the logo will be attached to your session in the listing in the final program. AESS THEMES AESS is proud of its breadth. To continue our efforts to reach out, we encourage session proposals that: * combine scholars from multiple disciplines-physical and natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts * are submitted by students, faculty, or administrators * bring together theorists and practitioners * blend those who work in government, business, foundations, and other areas of society * are organized by or include Environmentalists of Color * are organized by or include practicing artists * enhance conference participants' awareness of a sense of place-in the case of the AESS 2012 conference in Santa Clara, this meansthat we encourage proposals with a geographic focus on the San Francisco Bay Area and California. ________________________________ HOW TO SUBMIT To submit a proposal, please visit this web page after November 3, 2011 to access the online submission process. ________________________________ REVIEW OF PROPOSALS Your proposal will be reviewed by the AESS Program Committee. To increase the probability that it will be accepted, please consider the following criteria: * Inclusion of participants from multiple disciplines, sectors, professions, or perspectives, * scholarly and professional merit,and * a clear connection to the mission and goals of AESS and the broader environmental studies and sciences professional community. ________________________________ LIMITATIONS ON SUBMISSIONS Individuals may submit more than one proposal. ________________________________ REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS In order to be included in the 2012 AESS conference program, all organizers of accepted proposals and their invited speakers and attendees must be registered and be paid in full by the early registration deadline [to be announced]. Proposals from participants who don't comply with this rule may be dropped from the conference program. ________________________________ FINANCIAL SUPPORT AESS and the 2012 AESS conference organizers are not responsible for obtaining funds to support speaker or participant travel to the meeting, and cannot guarantee that any support will be available. ________________________________ CONTACT THE CHAIR If you have questions, contact Ken Wilkening, chair of the AESS Program Committee, at kew@unbc.ca<mailto:kew@unbc.ca> ________________________________