Welcome to the proposal submission and review portal for Higher Ed Hive: Online. The Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies (SWCHRS) at the University of Oklahoma is pleased to announce the inaugural Higher Ed Hive: Online, taking place May 20–22, 2026.
This fully virtual conference is intentionally designed to surpass geography and bring together communities from across regions, institutions, and roles within higher education. While our in-person Hive gatherings focus on regional engagement, the online Hive serves as a connective space, bringing together ideas, experiences, and expertise across the higher education landscape.
Higher Ed Hive: Online gathers together thought leaders, educators, and practitioners to critically engage with challenges currently facing higher education. Through these sessions, participants will exchange ideas, build cross-regional scholarly and practitioner networks, and collaborate on solutions essential to the future of the field.
Call for Proposals
We invite proposals, submissions, and recommendations for the upcoming Higher Ed Hive: Online. This virtual gathering welcomes contributions from across regions, disciplines, and institutional contexts, with the goal of fostering shared learning and meaningful connection beyond local boundaries.
All Higher Ed Hive events are guided by eight thematic focus frames that address the most urgent and transformative areas in higher education. We welcome contributions that offer insight, strategy, and innovation across the following areas:
- Civic Discourse and Engagement: Methods for engaging across ideological and socioeconomic divides, campus-based or community-based dialogue programs, empathy-building and deliberative democracy practice, the role of algorithms in shaping political opinions and polarization, and misinformation and media literacy in civic digital spaces.
- Financial Aid: Exploring the complexities of financial aid systems, including the implications of rising costs, burgeoning student debt, and management of aid resources.
- Student Access and Opportunity: Strategizing how best to serve nontraditional college student populations, including formerly incarcerated individuals, those experiencing homelessness, parenting students, older adults, and military-affiliated learners.
- The Transition from Learning to Work: Preparing students to navigate an evolving labor market, addressing skills gaps, and promoting lifelong learning pathways.
- Pedagogy: Reimagining teaching and learning frameworks to meet the needs of students with a range of learning experiences.
- Redefining and Reimagining the Academy: Empowering institutions to (re)define their missions in teaching, research, community engagement, and innovation, while reinforcing their commitment to the public good.
- Leadership Development, Policy, and Ethics: Equipping leaders with the tools to drive ethical, policy-informed decision-making in an increasingly complex higher education landscape.
- Student Leadership Development: Examining models of civic engagement and student organizing, and exploring approaches to supporting protest, advocacy, and activism within higher education contexts.
Managing Your Submission
If you need to make changes to your submission, you can do so by making edits to your proposal in the “My Submissions” tab. Do NOT submit the same proposal again.
Important Dates
- Proposal Submission Deadline: March 2, 2026
- Decision Notification: March 16, 2026
- Conference Dates: May 20-22, 2026