2022 Call for Proposals

Welcome and Invitation to Present

Clemson University and the City of Clemson are excited to host the 2022 ITGA City and University Relations Conference, June 6-8, 2022. We are seeking innovative and collaborative proposals on topics that provide insight on the continuously evolving relationships impacted through a variety of challenges faced by students, community members, and other stakeholders.

Nestled by the Blue Ridge mountains, Clemson University and the City of Clemson are surrounded by the beauty and inspiring sense of nature and belonging. We invite you to come experience the magic and beauty of this area – as we at Clemson fondly refer to as "Something in these hills".

The conference theme this year is "Multiplying our Strengths: Creating Value-Added Partnerships for Town and Gown." Here in Clemson, the university and city strive to create partnerships, both between us and within our communities that truly highlight and multiply the impact of our programs and strategies to create a vibrant and engaged cityscape. The nature of our communities requires us to explore a collaborative approach as we strive to meet the challenges that exist. As we normalize the COVID-19 pandemic into our daily lives, the impact has created opportunities for innovation and collaboration far beyond what we imagined, in areas outside of health and well-being. A broad range of issues exist in our communities, encompassing economic development, crisis management, governmental entities, university and city challenges, and community partnerships.

Track 1: Building Community: Strengthening, adding and growing opportunities for all members of the community.

Proposals within this track are focused on the creation of partnerships to foster a community that embraces diversity and inclusion, including diversity of thought, sustainable community and university practices, and providing resources and experiences for off-campus students to engage with community members in a meaningful and impactful manner.

Track2: Transforming Relationships: Change for the better - creating collaborative partnerships to foster economic growth and success of the community.

This track would include innovative partnerships and collaborations to attract alumni and new residences, create corporate and university partnerships, explore factors affecting town and gown relationships within adjudications of student code of conduct, technology and commercialization, and even collaborative approaches to economic internships for fostering student involvement in the community.

Track 3: Being Well: Creating a balanced approach to the health, safety, and wellness of our students and community members.

Let’s talk about being well! Being well encompasses physical, emotional and spiritual well-being, and proposals within this track would include alcohol and drug collaborations with universities and law enforcement; sexual violence education and prevention/response and community connections; the role of non-profit partners including support for foster students, underrepresented communities, homeless services and food insecurities; policy-makers and neighborhood stakeholders.

Track 4: Crisis Management: Summing our efforts - lessons learned from the past year.

This track allows colleagues in emergency management, law enforcement, city planners, university public relations and other fields to discuss application of lessons learned as it relates to risk, resiliency, and ongoing climate of crisis, including community adherence and education surrounding emerging trends, environmental and social issues. Sessions could include current event topics such as the impact of controversial speakers on campus, COVID normalization, and business continuity. This could include balancing levels of communication, public relations, media storytelling, and outreach for engagement during a crisis and beyond.

Suggested Guidelines for a Successful Session

Representative of multiple organizations
Sessions should be representative of town and gown relations, so it is important to include both university and community stakeholder perspectives.

Telling your story
Many times we focus on the "what" without exploring the "how." We encourage you to share challenges and how you overcame these, as well as any lessons learned throughout the process.

Show your data
Research, data and program evaluation are part of many processes and we are interested to understand this part of your experience. Make sure to share any data/metrics you have, as well as how that has informed your work.

Make it a conversation
Conference presenters can sometimes fall into the routine of lecture-style and/or tour-like presentations that are not always the most engaging for attendees. We want this conference to be an exchange of information, so we encourage you to develop your classroom and/or mobile style session as interactive and conversational as possible.

Submission Requirements

• Title of innovation or solution
• Name of contact person, contact information and names of co-presenters
• Speaker bio (75 words or less)
• Track #
• Include student enrollment size and population of community
• Description of the format and outline of the content and key messages
• Abstract in 75 words describing your program session (to be used in the conference program)
• Learning outcomes
• Include the size/population of your campus or community

Presentation Information and Important Dates

• Time: Sessions are limited to a total of 60 minutes, keeping into account the desire for interactive sessions encouraging attendee participation.
• Technology: Rooms are equipped with audio/visual capabilities-projector screens and/or flat screen TVs; and adaptors to connect to any kind of laptop/mobile device.
• Proposal Submission Deadlines: You must submit your proposal on or before Monday, February 28, 2022.
• Notification of selection: You will be notified on or before March 31, 2022 regarding the status of your proposal.

Submit a Proposal