15th Imagining American Conference

September 30th - October 3rd

Baltimore, Maryland

Hosted by UMBC

Co-sponsored by MICA and Morgan State University

Have you been wondering how to connect your learning, teaching, research, and work to meeting society’s complex challenges? You’re not alone! This fall, UMBC will host the national conference of Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life. Imagining America is a national consortium of colleges, universities, and organizations dedicated to advancing the public and civic purposes of arts, humanities, and design. 

From September 30 to October 3, 2015, join faculty, staff, graduate students, undergraduate students, community organizers, and artists from all over the country who use scholarly, artistic, social, and entrepreneurial resources to address pressing challenges. As we collectively find new footing in our examination of real-world issues, Imagining America provides a source for information and ideas in support of engaged undergraduate and graduate pedagogies, public scholarship, and institutional-change initiatives. This is an excellent opportunity to see what this work is all about and meet scholars from across the nation—and it is happening right in the center of Baltimore City, and here on the UMBC campus!

Imagining America chose UMBC as the 2015 conference host six months before the nation turned its attention to Baltimore in the wake of Freddie Gray’s death. Our selection is a testament to the long record of powerful civic work underway at UMBC, and to campus leaders’ commitment to fostering civic agency, engaged scholarship, and a culture of innovation and inclusive excellence. UMBC’s Imagining America planning team, consisting of staff, faculty, alumni, and graduate and undergraduate students, has been leading a conference organizing process that includes Baltimore grassroots organizations, non-profit organizations, and other Imagining America university partners MICA, Morgan, and Towson to ensure sustainable impact in Baltimore beyond 2015. Post-conference organizing is already underway!

The LLC is well represented in IA as some of our faculty and alumni have lead the conference's organizing committee:

Also, members of our LLC community will present in some of the panels of IA: