2026NEeanFF: 2026 NEean Fall Forum College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA, United States, November 6, 2026

Beyond Data: The Power of Assessment as Relational Presence

Building Professional Community During Institutional Change

We invite you to submit proposals for the 2026 New England Educational Assessment Network (NEean) Fall Forum

Event Date: Friday, November 6, 2026

Please note that this year’s event will be held in person at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.

In assessment, the ways that we choose to show up matter. As our institutions face budget cuts, eliminated positions, institutional mergers, and constant restructuring, assessment professionals face challenges that are nuanced and multi-layered. We're navigating a BANI-VUCA landscape, one that's brittle, anxious, nonlinear, and incomprehensible, yet also volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Our work demands more than data. It requires human connection, collective wisdom, and support that depends on presence with one another.

This year’s Fall Forum invites you to step away from your screen and gather in person to strengthen the professional relationships that sustain us through change. Assessment works best in collaboration, and NEean offers a space to build mentoring networks, share strategies for doing more with less, and ground our practice in what matters most: students, relationships, and community. Whether you're navigating a merger, leading as a solo practitioner, or reimagining assessment amid policy uncertainty, you'll find colleagues who understand the challenges and are ready to dig into them together.

Join us to explore how relational presence transforms assessment from compliance into meaningful work that centers student voice, leverages technology thoughtfully, and creates the conditions for institutional resilience even when everything around us is shifting.

We invite you to offer a proposal that addresses assessment in higher education. Proposals that address the conference theme are preferred, but not required. Sample tracks/topics include:

1. Data as Convening: Meaning-making in Community to Inspire and Innovate
2. Cultivating Assessment Leaders: Building Support Networks and Mentorship Models Through Transition and Change
3. Small But Mighty: Strategies for Solo Practitioners, Small Teams, or Programs with Limited Resources
4. Measuring Student Success: Authentic Co-Curricular Assessment and Career Outcomes
5. Assessment During Mergers: Practices Across Institutional Cultures, Structures, and People
6. Human Connection in the AI Era: Collaborative Decision-Making in Technology-Enhanced Assessment
7. Listening to Learn: Centering Student Voice in Assessment Amid Policy Uncertainty

Fall Forum offers assessment professionals, higher education administrators and faculty, and education practitioners an opportunity to network, exchange knowledge, and share experiences for supporting faculty, students, and staff with learning assessment. Attendees will have access to professional development at all levels, from novice to advanced, and opportunities to interact with colleagues from across the New England region and beyond through workshops, presentations, posters, and informal discussions. We welcome proposals representing assessment scholarship and practice across the diversity of higher education institutions.

Presenters should plan to be present at the time their session is scheduled. All session presenters are responsible for their conference registration fees.

The proposal deadline is Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Proposals will be accepted, with presenters notified by Aug. 1.

Conference Session Types (you may submit a presentation for any of the following):

Regular Presentation (45 minutes)

Traditional format – These sessions provide an examination of assessment issues, processes, or research results. Interactive participation is strongly encouraged. Presentations should total no more than 30 minutes to allow time for questions and conversation.

Hands-on Workshop (90 minutes)

This provides participants with a deep examination of a specific topic or question, or an in-depth demonstration of a particular facet of learning assessment, accompanied by extensive hands-on activities. Workshops are highly interactive and also give participants the chance to discuss in depth their own experiences and points of view, or to develop tools and activities for use in their own work. Facilitators should limit their presentations to 30 minutes and plan for multiple elements of audience participation.

Panel Discussion (45 or 90 minutes)

We suggest 3-5 people for the panel. Panelists will be required to engage with the audience through interactive participation.

Poster Session

This provides the opportunity to communicate, in a briefer format than a regular presentation, research findings, assessment issues, practices, case studies or examples of assessment at different levels. Graduate student work is highly encouraged.

Submission Guidelines

Proposals should be submitted as PDF documents and must follow the format below.

Please note that the EasyChair submission link will use the term "upload your paper"; however, the only document you are required to upload is your proposal containing the elements as described.

1. Cover sheet: Presentation title (limit title to 12 words) as well as the name, title, affiliation, address, telephone, and email information for all presenters.
2. Session type: Please see the session type descriptions above.
3. Conference track: Select one of the sample topics listed above, if applicable. You may also choose to describe in one or two sentences how your session will address the theme of, Beyond Data: The Power of Assessment as Relational Presence, if applicable
4. Intended audience: Proposals should describe the intended audience (e.g., Academic Support Personnel, Administrators, Assessment Professionals, Faculty, Learning and Teaching staff, undergraduate and/or graduate students).
5. Abstract: Limit the abstract to no more than 60 words (for use on the conference website and final program).
6. Session description: To be no more than 500 words and include (a) session objectives, (b) institutional impact, (c) the applicability of the information to other institutions, and (d) opportunities for audience participation.

Please use the submission link provided in this document's header to submit your proposal.

Also, please note that the EasyChair submission link will use the term "upload your paper." However, all you need to upload is your proposal containing the items noted above.

Contact Information for Questions

Questions? Please contact Jane Boyland, NEean Executive Director, neean.assess@gmail.com.