Evolution, the Environment, and Responsible Knowledge Conference January 26-28, 2009
Aug 07, 2008 → Nov 07, 2008
CALL FOR PAPERS, POSTER SESSIONS, AND PANEL DISCUSSIONS for a conference on
Evolution, the Environment, and Responsible Knowledge
An International Multi- and Interdisciplinary Conference Presented by The University of Central Florida Department of Philosophy, the QEP for Information Fluency, the UCF Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, and AAC&U's Core Commitments Grant
January 26-28, 2009 at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
In the brief time humans have inhabited the earth, we have wrought great changes in the biosphere and in our consciousness. A responsible approach to knowledge would help us clarify and disseminate the best information to formulate an appropriate response to biological, social, and ethical challenges we are facing now and will face in the future.
The topics of this conference are complexly interconnected and interrelated across a variety of disciplinary dimensions, and we welcome contributions transcending academic boundaries, developing disciplinary insights in creative and unexplored ways, and those that express perspectives in diverse or underutilized media, including visual imagery, song, dance, storytelling, and technologically novel creations.
Presentations focused on any dimensions of the conference topic are welcome. We seek to be inclusive and diverse in appeal and participation, welcoming submissions of abstracts, artworks, poster sessions, and panel discussion plans from persons of various backgrounds and interests. For example, evolution may be understood as a time dimension; environment as spatial; knowledge as the dimension of consciousness, and some combination of these dimensions leading to a fourth, the dimension of the facilitation of responsible action.
This conference is the third in a series of conferences on the ability to acquire, evaluate, synthesize, and use information in responsible ways and is designed to appeal to and include a broad range of interests and topics, discussions and disagreements, and forms of presentation on these interrelated but independent issues. Our goal is to bring together scholars (students, faculty members, and administrators from both higher and secondary education), business leaders, artists, poets, musicians, health care professionals, researchers, engineers, environmentalists, activists, government employees, and all others who have interests in any or all of the topics of the conference.
Examples of possible contributions to the conference include:
Librarians, information specialists, and educators from primary, secondary, and higher education who facilitate the acquisition and dissemination of various forms of knowledge and would like to share ideas about improving effectiveness in conveying meaningful information to a larger society
Natural scientists who are in touch with crucial knowledge concerning the well-being of the planet and its inhabitants and who seek or are developing better ways of disseminating that knowledge
Social scientists and historians who have a grasp of changes that have occurred, are occurring, or might occur in human social organization
Philosophers and those working in the humanities and other fields who have an interest in fundamental issues of reality, truth, morality, the virtues of honesty and courage, ways of living in beauty, or similar deep concerns as they pertain to the conference theme
Psychologists and others who would discuss processes underlying self-deception, denial, disconnection, and other states that inhibit our abilities to make good decisions and take appropriate actions
Physicians and other health care professionals who provide insights into evolutionary trends of medical importance, such as the development of antibiotic resistant disease organisms, or with creative ideas concerning the integration and presentation of knowledge about individual and social choices that promote or diminish health and well-being
Physicists, engineers, leaders of business and industry, and others who can address issues of infrastructure sustainability, alternative technologies and methodologies for meeting present and future human needs
Legal scholars, economists, ethicists, and religious leaders who can address ways of making our social institutions do the jobs they were designed to do, to restore us to a world in which values leading to the good of humanity and the world are of primary concern
Agriculturists, gardeners, and biologists who will present ideas regarding the way in which finite resources will be able to sustain an ever-growing human population
Artists, musicians, poets, and creative individuals of all types whose works may help humanity to integrate what we already know or think we know or open up new possibilities for thinking and acting
Deadlines for receipt of proposals/abstracts:
Proposals/abstracts are accepted between September 30th and November 3rd, 2008. Those received by October 15th will be reviewed by an expedited process, so please send your proposal/abstract as soon as possible.
Proposals/abstracts are accepted by e-mail only.
Send
(Nancy Stanlick, Associate Professor, Department of
Philosophy, University of Central Florida).
Proposals and abstracts for poster sessions, performances, academic papers, panel discussions, and any other forms of conference submissions are accepted by e-mail only.
Send
Registration Fees
(UCF Students and Faculty are free of charge)
Non-UCF Professionals and Full-Time Faculty Members:
Early registration: $250 (by November 15)
On-time registration: $300 (by December 5)
In-person/on-site registration: $350 (by January 28, 2009)
Non-UCF Students, Part Time Faculty, and Others:
Early registration $150 (by November 15)
On-time registration $200 (by December 5)
Late registration $250 (by January 28, 2009)
There are no refunds after January 15, 2009. A 25% administrative fee will be charged for all registration cancellations.
Information on Hotel Accommodations
Information on Driving Directions