NC Campus Engagement’s Pathways to Achieving Civic Engagement (PACE) Conference: Deepening Civic Learning and Fortifying Civic Culture: What can campuses do now to build beyond 250? – Feb 11

Posted by North Carolina Campus Engagement on January 13, 2026

North Carolina Campus Engagement’s PACE conference, now in its 27th year, is the longest running regional conference in the nation focused exclusively on higher education’s place-based and public mission. We invite faculty, administrators, researchers, community partners, and students who want to gain skills, knowledge, and best practice models for a spectrum of community and civic engagement pedagogies and practices.

This year’s theme invites participants to explore the role higher education plays in promoting civic learning and action and in nurturing civic cultures on campus that embrace civic joy and hope. The agenda includes workshops, community conversations, and a new Civic Learning Showcase poster session. We will also present the 2026 Engagement Awards, engage in civic joy and connection, and reflect on our vision for America’s future.

Keynote speaker: President Michael S. Roth, Wesleyan University

Sampling of confirmed sessions:

• Participatory place-shaping: How Community-led Counter-storying encourages Civic Engagement
• Making the National Personal: Reflections on Civic Joy at 250
• Listening to Connect: Embodied Practices to Build Empathy and Awareness
• Assessing Civic Identity Development and Ethical Reasoning in Student Reflections
• Civic Joy, Civic Hope, Civic Love: What, Why, and How?
• Navigating Grief in the Classroom
• Exploring How Civic Engagement Can Be More Mindful
• The Fragility, Resilience, and Engaged Education in Democracy (FREED) Project
• Putting the “Action” in Nonviolent Action through Community-Engaged Pedagogy
• Who Leads? Examining Interdisciplinary Expertise in Co-Designing Community-Engaged Food Sovereignty Partnerships
• Disrupting power structures to promote equity in community-based learning
• Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About”: Managing Campus Language Shifts

Registration is $125 per person, for individuals from campuses who are members of NC Campus Engagement or on a campus that is a member of an Alliance for Campus Community Engagement organization. The fee is $175 for individuals from non-member campuses.

LEARN MORE  │ REGISTER  (Closes January 23 at midnight)