2018 Midwest Public Affairs Conference

Interested parties are invited to submit a proposal for this year's Midwest Public Affairs Conference (MPAC). The conference theme this year is "Adapting Public Service to an Age of Technological Change."

The 2018 conference is hosted by UIC CUPPA and DPA at Student Center East on June 7-8th (with an informal reception on the evening of the 6th). It is a substantial event that annually draws more than 200 academics, students and practitioners from all over the United States and abroad, though primarily from universities in the midwest. Unlike conferences that meet at hotels, this event is held in university conference facilities (Student Center East this year) and is run by the host program rather than organizational staff. Because of this structure, our college has a tremendous platform to showcase its research to the broader public affairs community.

MPAC has a dual charter of promoting quality research and providing a mechanism for socialization in the field. To keep the conference accessible, we accept proposals for traditional presentations (15-20 minutes), assembled panels, workshops, training sessions, roundtables, policy forums—but do not require a paper to be submitted. There are some assembled symposia that do require papers, and it is up to the discretion of those organizing to do so. There will be content and programming related specifically to our theme (particularly in civic technology), but we are a generalist event that accepts proposals on all topics in public affairs. As a sponsor/host, we will not charge CUPPA faculty/staff/students a registration fee to participate (usually $185 academic/$95 student).

To see previous year programs for details of attendees and content, please visit our archive at: http://midwestpac.com/program-archive

The deadline for all proposals is April 15 and the call for proposals can be found here: http://midwestpac.com/mpac2018/