Academic Career Conference (Oct 16 & 17) | Centre for Career Development

The ACC in a nutshell

Date: October 16 and 17 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Theme: Inclusion in academic contexts: showing up as you in academia.

Location: The conference will be online and in-person at Tatham Centre room TC 2218 on October 16, and online on October 17.

Audience: Graduate students (Masters, PhD) and Post Docs interested in a career in academia.

Are you interested in a career in academia?

The annual Academic Career Conference, hosted by the Centre for Career Development, provides workshops, lightning talks and discussion panels to help graduate students and Postdocs prepare for an academic career. This year, the Academic Career Conference will focus on the theme “Inclusion in academic contexts: showing up as you in academia”. Join us to discuss how gender, cultural, religious and disability identities are integrated (or not) in the academic environment to foster a more inclusive space where everyone can show up as themselves.

In this conference you will learn how to:

Advocate for yourself and for others at an academic workplace
Incorporate inclusive and anti-oppressive pedagogies in the classroom
Foster inclusion and community building
Prepare for an academic hiring process by knowing the expectations of a hiring committee

Keynote speaker

Laura Mae Lindo wearing a colourfun headband and black shirt with a colourful design.

Dr. Laura Mae Lindo

Dr. Lindo is a professor at the Department of Philosophy and a former Member of the Provincial Parliament for Kitchener Centre. Her academic research focuses primarily on addressing social justice issues in educational settings, and on anti-racist pedagogy and praxis.

Conference agenda

Day 1: October 16, 2024

Location: Tatham Centre , room 2218

Time	Agenda
9:15 – 9:30 a.m.	Registration table opens
9:30 - 9:40 a.m.	Opening remarks, territorial acknowledgements, and keynote speaker introduction.
9:40 - 10:30 a.m.	Keynote speech by Dr Laura Mae Lindo
10:30 - 10:40 a.m.	Coffee break
10:40 – 10:45 a.m.	Introduction of the speakers
10:40 – 11:00 a.m.	Practical lightning talk 1: Statements of positionality by Elisabeth Van Stam (Writing and Communication Centre)
11:00 – 11:15 a.m.	Practical lightning talk 2: Neurodivergence in the workplace by Jennifer O’Brien, Christine Zaza, and Karen Parkinson (Accessibility Services & Wellness Collaborative)
11:15 – 11:30 a.m.	Practical talk 4: Negotiating Job Offers by Shilan Woldemariam (Centre for Career Development)
11:30 – 11:45 a.m.	Questions for speakers
11:45 a.m. – 12 p.m.	Coffee and networking

Day 2: October 17, 2024

Location: Online (Teams link will be provided upon registration)

Time	Agenda
9:30 – 9:40 a.m.	Opening remarks, territorial acknowledgements, and speaker’s introduction.
9:40 - 9:55 a.m.	Experience/research lightning talk 1: Feminist networks in academia by Brianna Wiens (Faculty of Arts- English, Language, and Literature)
9:55 - 10:10 a.m.	Experience/research lightning talk 2: Sidestepping Sexism? Strategies to Beat Biases and Cultivate Balance by Hilary Bergsieker (Faculty of Arts – Psychology)
10:10 - 10:25 a.m.	Experience/research lightning talk 3: Being a woman in a male-dominated discipline by Diana Skrzydlo (Faculty of Mathematics)
10:25 - 10:40 a.m.	Experience/research lightning talk 4: Creating a welcoming and inclusive learning environment for students by Michelle Ogrodnik (Faculty of Health)
10:40 – 10:55 a.m.	Questions for speakers
10:55 – 11:00 a.m.	Break
11:00 – 11:10 a.m.	Introduction of panelists
11:10 – 11:50 a.m.	Panel on the hiring process in academia: Juan Moreno-Cruz (hiring committee SEED) Daniel Harley (hiring committee Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business) Gulnaz Bulbul (recently hired at Geography and Environmental Management) Christian Euler (recently hired at the Department of Chemical Engineering)
11:50 a.m. – 12 p.m.	Final questions and closing remarks