REGIONAL/AFFILIATE NEWS

PROPOSAL DEADLINES 

• JUNE 10, 2026 Rocky Mountain CEA Pop-Up Conference /   “Critical Thinking: Rage Against, Reckon With, and Reorient the mAchIne” (Zoom)
• AUGUST 15, 2026 Indiana CEA Annual Conference (in-person) /  "What (Only) We Can Do" 
• AUGUST 24, 2026 Florida CEA (in-person) /  The Forgotten and the Lost: Traditions in Motion 
• SEPTEMBER 12, 2026 Michigan CEA (Zoom) / Tense Timer

CONFERENCE DATES

• JUNE 13,2026 Rocky Moutain CEA Pop-Up Conference (ZOOM)
• OCTOBER 3, 2026 Michigan CEA / Tense Times (ZOOM)
• OCTOBER 16, 2026 Indiana CEA /  What (Only) We Can Do,  Indiana Institute of Technology Fort Wayne, IN 
• FEBRUARY 19-20, 2027 Florida CEA/ The Forgotten and the Lost: Traditions in Motion, Hillsborough Ybor City Campus, Tampa, Florida

Indiana English​ is a competitive, peer-reviewed academic journal where faculty-scholars and graduate students alike can publish literary criticism, creative works, pedagogical scholarship, or other work in their fields. The open-access journal is supported by the INDIANA CEA (ICEA) and is published online.    

For Volume 3, Indiana English encourages submissions on the role of English studies in the Midwest but will consider submissions on any topic related to English literature and criticism, linguistics, or pedagogy. For this volume, we are particularly interested in exploring writings on national politics, the Midwest's impact on Presidential elections, works studying candidates who came from the Midwest, and the rich literary history that comes with such considerations (speeches, policies, educational content). We also publish original creative work (fiction, poetry, creative or literary nonfiction, and photography).

Submission Instructions:

• Scholarly articles should be between 4,000-10,000 words, include an abstract of no more than 300 words.
•  Book Reviews should not exceed 1,500 words; we recommend inquiring about a book's appropriateness for review before sending a full review. 
• Poetry should be no more than 3 poems, up to 5 pages. Please submit all your poems in one document. Please indicate if poems are meant to be considered together, or may be considered individually.
•  Short stories and creative nonfiction should aim to be between 2,500-5,000 words, but shorter pieces are welcome.

Submissions or questions can be sent to indianacea@gmail.com or to Stephen Zimmerly, University of Indianapolis, Editor-in-chief: zimmerlys@uindy.edu

THEME: Critical Thinking: Rage Against, Reckon With, and Reorient the mAchIne”

JUNE 13, 2026: 9AM MT/11AM ET

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping how writers plan, compose, and revise their works. While concerns about over-automation and reduced student engagement (critical thinking) are valid, AI also offers powerful ways to strengthen writing process awareness and expand students’ analytical skills. This conference invites 500-word essays that explore practical, creative, and ethical uses of AI to deepen students’ understanding of writing processes, audiences, rhetorical situations, genre expectations, academic discourse, or writing community development.

We welcome pop-up essays of @ 500 words that explore AI as a tool for insight—not a shortcut. Strong submissions will show how AI can help students think more intentionally about shaping and communicating with real audiences in persuasive, clear, and well-crafted ways. Potential Areas of Exploration: how might AI help students map audiences and/or approximate audience reactions; how can AI demonstrate shifts in formality, genre conventions, or rhetorical sophistication; how can AI help writers articulate choices, spot reasoning gaps, or identify missed opportunities; what are the challenges and ethics surrounding AI in the writing classroon, and what creative classroom designs could use AI to enhance—not replace students’ rhetorical judgment?

• ABSTRACTS of 150-200 words due JUNE 10, 2026 Email to rockymtncea@gmail.com AND meredithjh602@gmail.com.
• PAPERS of @ 500 words due JUNE 12, 2026 

To request an extension or learn more, email Gary Mills at rockymtncea@gmail.com

How to Pop-In to the Pop-Up

Click the link below and use the following:

Meeting ID: 849 6662 9074 / Passcode: 537814

THEME: TENSE TIMES

As writers, artists, researchers, teachers, students, and mentors, we are tasked with documenting, making sense of, creating art in, and guiding each other through tense times. How do we, in any (or all) of these roles, make sense of the current moment? How do language, rhetoric, or grammar reflect tension, tenses, or time? How does writing help us process difficult or strange times? How can we discuss these issues in our classrooms?

Conference proposals are due by September 12, 2026. Early submissions are welcome. Please send your name, university affiliation, e-mail address, phone number, time preference, and a 200-word abstract or sample of creative writing to Program Chairs Lori Burlingame and  Cheryl Caesar  via e-mail at jmceatreasurer1@gmail.com . To submit a panel proposal, please include the information for all members (5 maximum participants) in the same proposal. 

THEME: WHAT (ONLY) WE CAN DO

Indiana Tech, Fort Wayne, IN

The broad field of English studies has a proud and rich history. Although our discipline is regularly undervalued and even disregarded by some individuals outside of the humanities, we continue to contribute a great deal to the progress of education, scholarship, and society as a whole. While some commentators have suggested that technology can do the things we do, others seem to point to the uncompromising necessity of what we teach. Most famously, Anthropic co-founder and English B.A. Daniela Amodei recently claimed, “The ability to have critical thinking skills will be more important in the future, rather than less.”

This call asks you to probe and ponder the following questions: What are the things only we as human beings, scholars, and educators can do? What makes us genuinely unique? The 2026 ICEA Conference invites proposals that explore what unique qualities we (folks in  English studies and the humanities writ large) use to impact our communities, institutions, and the world.  

Send a 200-word proposal along with your name, position, and affiliation to indianaCEA@gmail.com by August 15, 2026. If proposing a full panel, send a single proposal with individual presentation titles and information for all speakers. Graduate students are welcome to submit, and undergraduate students with faculty sponsors/support will be considered. If your proposal is accepted, you will be required to join ICEA to present. We are an affiliate of the College English Association (CEA), and successful ICEA proposals can also be submitted for the 2027 CEA Conference in St. Louis, MO.  

THEME: THE FORGOTTEN AND THE LOST TRADITIONS IN MOTION

Hillsborough Ybor City Campus, Tampa, FL

 Our theme offers a meaningful lens for exploring the people, stories, and knowledge that slip from public attention or historical record. In literature and composition classrooms, we often ask students to recover voices, revisit overlooked texts, and question whose stories are remembered and whose are not. This theme invites participants to reflect on memory, disappearance, and rediscovery across genres and disciplines, from archival research and cultural history to personal narrative and digital media. It also speaks to our work as educators, preserving knowledge, nurturing voices, and helping students make meaning from what might otherwise be forgotten. At the same time, traditions are never static. They move, adapt, and evolve as new voices enter the conversation, and new contexts reshape how knowledge is shared and remembered. This year’s theme encourages participants to consider how traditions in English studies and the humanities continue to shift, whether through technological change, curricular innovation, community engagement, or renewed attention to marginalized histories and perspectives.

 FCEA invites scholars, educators, and practitioners to consider how recovery, remembrance, and rediscovery shape our teaching, scholarship, and creative work. Paper proposals that engage with the conference theme, broadly interpreted, are welcome.  Please submit a paper or panel or paper proposal of approximately 150 words by August 24, 2026. Note that all presenters must be members of FCEA. Please direct any questions to the conference committee: fceaconference@gmail.com.