2026 AHEAD Conference Call for Proposals

• Proposal submission deadline: Sunday, November 2, 2025
• Anonymous review of all proposals: November - December, 2025
• Notification of acceptance status: Monday, February 16, 2026

The Program Committee is committed to providing conference content for a diversity of participants and is highly interested in content aimed at a variety of backgrounds and experience levels, including novice (new to the field), intermediate (some years of experience and skills), and highly experienced audiences. We are especially interested in innovative sessions that challenge seasoned professionals with advanced content. We hope to see an increase in the number of proposals submitted from presenters with diverse lived experiences. Presentations submitted by more than one colleague from different institutions are also highly encouraged. 

While all relevant proposals and poster sessions are encouraged, AHEAD seeks submissions in the following content areas: 

• Guidance for Newer Disability Services Professionals
• Intersectionality of Disability and Diverse Populations
• How to Evaluate Accommodation Requests
• Engaging Effectively with Faculty
• Disability Studies and Research
• Disabled Faculty and Disability Resource Personnel
• Assistive and Accessible Technologies
• Enhancing Learning and Engagement Opportunities for Students with Disabilities
• How to Be Research and Data Driven in Higher Education
• Policy and Legal Aspects
• Programmatic Innovation and Campus Collaborations
• Strategic and Effective Disability Services Management
• Topics Related to Specific Institution-Types: Community Colleges, Small and/or Private Institutions, Multi-campus institutions

Back to Top

• Please keep presenter names and institutions out of your abstract and program description. The review process is anonymous. If names have to be edited out of your proposal, it will compromise the overall flow of your proposal. 
• Focus the bio information you include on your experience relative to the topic of your presentation. Bios will not be sent to reviewers, but will be considered by the conference committee members when making final decisions. They’re interested in your qualifications to present on the specific topic, not your entire resume.   
• Draft an abstract that is a clear, concise description of your presentation. The abstract will be available on the website and the program book and used by conference attendees to select which concurrent sessions they will attend. Abstracts may be edited by AHEAD for length, clarity, or grammar. 
• Submit a program description that is clear, well-organized, and grammatically correct. It’s useful to include information on why your topic is important to disability resources in higher education. You are encouraged to review the selection criteria below and ensure that you address each area of consideration. 
• Cite resources/references that support your presentation. AHEAD is interested in promoting evidence-based content. 
• Describe the learning goals for your presentation AND information about how you plan to achieve them. 
• Include information on how you will address AHEAD’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. In the past, proposals have been rejected because this AHEAD goal was not addressed in the proposal. 

NOTE: To ensure the AHEAD Conference includes diverse and representative perspectives, the conference committee prefers no more than three proposals from any individual presenter through the CRP process. Some content experts may be specifically invited to speak on topics crucial to the membership. Thus, some presenters may be highly represented in the final conference program. 

Back to Top

• Topics and Audience
• Submission Form Guidance
• Proposal Recommendations
• Selection Criteria
• Presenter Expectations
• How to Volunteer to be a Proposal Reviewer

AHEAD welcomes members of any experience level to review proposals and help shape the 2026 Conference. Please review the process and complete the short interest form , and you will be assigned proposals to review and rate in November-December 2025. 

Back to Top

When submitting a proposal, prospective presenters will be asked to agree to the following: 

• All presenters must register for the Conference and attend in-person. 
• AHEAD does not have the ability to support virtual presentations, so each presenter listed here will be present in Denver to present. 
• Presenters will have their presentation loaded onto their own laptop. AHEAD will provide projectors and HDMI cables. 
• All handouts and presentation support materials, including PowerPoint presentations, must be electronically provided to AHEAD by June 2025. All must be fully accessible. These materials will be posted on AHEAD’s website and the conference app for participants to download. 
• Any videos shown during presentations must be captioned. Video captioning is the responsibility of the presenter. Videos should be saved to the presenter's laptop, as wifi for streaming is unreliable. 
• Presenters must verbally describe any visual aids/photos used during a session, so images are accessible to all attendees. 
• Presenters agree to permit the Program Committee to edit the session title, description, or presenter bios for space, grammar, or clarity. 

Back to Top

All proposals will be reviewed by volunteer AHEAD members. Reviewers will evaluate proposals on the following criteria. All proposals will be reviewed anonymously. 

1. Relevance: The proposal offers essential, high impact information, addresses current issues, and/or builds on concepts that are important to the target audience. The ideas conveyed through the proposal are important to enhancing equity in higher education. 
2. Innovation: The proposal offers creative, cutting-edge, innovative, or provocative ideas and/or a novel approach to a common issue. After attending this session, participants would have new inspiration, motivation, and/or tools to take back to their institutions. 
3. Values: The concepts presented in the proposal are consistent with AHEAD's values of diversity, equity, social justice, individual respect, and inclusion. 
4. Diversity: The proposed session enhances the diversity of perspectives offered at the conference by including content featuring or focused on underrepresented groups or institution types (e.g. traditionally marginalized people—LGBTQ, people of color, indigenous people—and/or institutions such as community colleges, HBCUs, or small private colleges) or issues of intersectionality. 
5. Engagement: The proposal provides evidence of an opportunity for participants to learn actively and/or engage with the material through participatory activities, discussion, and/or a question/answer period.  
   
   • This is informed by the HOW part of your answer to the question on learning goals. Be sure to include a PLAN for how to support your learning goals effectively, involving participants ACTIVELY and BEYOND a simple Q&A opportunity. 
6. Presentation: The proposal is clear, concise, well-organized, and grammatically sound. The authors demonstrate attention and care in the development of this proposal. 

Back to Top