2000 AUDEM Conference - Sofia, Bulgaria
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2000 AUDEM CONFERENCE
CONFERENCE THEME: RESPONSIBLE AND RESPONSIVE EDUCATION
Eleventh Annual Conference November 5 - 8, Sofia, Bulgaria
Host Universities: Kliment Ohridsky University of Sofia and American
University of Bulgaria

Our 2000 conference will be held starting Sunday afternoon, November 5,
and ending November 8 after lunch. The Opening Session will be held in
the Great Hall of the University of Sofia, while other sessions will be
held at the host hotel, the Rodina Hotel, 8 Totleben Boulevard, 1506
Sofia.

Students, Faculty, and Administrators from institutions of higher
education throughout the world are invited to attend. AUDEM conferences
are conducive to making new friends and exchanging ideas about and
solutions to university-oriented problems.

Limited financial support will be available to cover attendance-related
costs of participants from countries of Central and Eastern Europe who
are not funded from their institutions or sources within their
countries. AUDEM will review applications from CEE candidates and make
decisions regarding the exact amount of need-based funding to be awarded
to individual applicants. Application procedures will be announced in
the Summer.

CONFERENCE THEME: RESPONSIBLE AND RESPONSIVE EDUCATION

At the same time that differences between nations and cultures led to
horrible conflicts causing suffering, devastation, and ruin to millions
of people, rapid advances in science and technology have been taking
place. The peoples of nations, ethnic groups, and regions, such as those
living on the Balkan Peninsula, are rediscovering the need to educate
themselves for utilizing better their energies and resources for
constructive development in order for them to find a place in our highly
competitive world.

To this end, the themes of RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP and RESPONSE TO
CHANGE must be somehow incorporated into higher education.
Universities, because of their accepted roles in societies are well
positioned to take leadership positions in this important need for
progress.

The year 2000 Conference of AUDEM will be organized to address these
needs in the contexts of the AUDEM NEW AGENDA that characterize 21
(superscript: st) century universities and on the founding AUDEM
orientations of enhancing the role of education in promoting democratic
institutions, economic development including technology transfer,
decentralized decision making, human health, sustainable habitation of
the earth, and common moral and social values.

Three interrelated thematic areas have been chosen.

I. Human Rights and Moral and Social Values.

This theme has been chosen in an effort to help articulate and further
develop understandings of the fundamental features of civil and
democratic societies. Also discussed will be some methods of
application of these concepts in the area of higher education curricula
and communities.

II. Organization of Higher Education into Regional Systems.

Ways to improve universities should address two goals: first, quality
instruction and research; second, ready access for many people to higher
education that they can afford within the reach of their transportation
and financial means. Such goals can be met best by establishing
suitably structured higher-education systems at national, regional, and
state levels. These systems have been highly developed in the United
States and typically have a comprehensive university where graduate and
professional degree programs are coordinated, complex research is being
done, costly research facilities are available, and service programs are
concentrated. In addition, community colleges offering two-year
programs of study in many strategic locations are important to providing
access to many people. Institutions intermediate between these two types
are also typically present.

III. The Impact of Sweeping Developments in Science and Technology.

The AUDEM NEW AGENDA has two thematic directions. First, all
universities -CEE, American and all others - must recognize the rapid
and sweeping changes taking place in the world. Many lines of research
and development have converged to give rise to such major change agents
as the Internet, electronic marketing of products and services,
revolutions in telecommunications and whole new modalities of medical
treatment, to name only a few. Even intellectual thought regarding
democracy, theology, and ethics has taken new directions, partly because
of the rapidity and pervasiveness of efficient communication and highly
accelerated publication of ideas. Second, universities must realize that
these changes are forcing radical alterations in how teaching will be
done (electronic methodology), an expansion in the types of people
taking classes (distance-learning students outside classrooms), and even
re-assessments of what should be taught (concepts rather than facts now
readily available electronically).

Only by becoming more integrated into the international educational
network can universities in CEE and elsewhere hold their existing
positions. To become internationally competitive, numerous major
alterations will be necessary.

Numerous areas of science and engineering are developing rapidly in
numerous countries. Developments in areas such as telecommunications,
e-commerce, and human genetics will continue to transform societies and
economies where ever their impacts have an opportunity to be utilized.

The impact on societies can be so important that universities will need
to be sure their teaching programs are current and support their
Faculties in teaching and research. Universities also can and should
contribute to economic development in these areas.

INVITED SPEAKERS

Keynote Presentations will be given on Sunday afternoon in the Opening
Session beginning at 16.30.

The keynote speaker will be Professor John V. Byrne, an internationally
known educator. Dr. Byrne currently is the Executive Director of the
Kellogg Commission on the Future of (American) State and Land Grant
Universities. He was the President of Oregon State University from 1984
to 1995, a period when that University continued to grow despite severe
budget restrictions caused by a property tax limitation. He emphasized
international education and supported significant academic reform in
higher education. He has also served as Administrator of the U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Plenary session speakers are now being invited to address the Conference
on subjects relating to the thematic areas of the Conference. Dr.
Grady Bogue, Professor of Educational Administration and Policy Studies,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee and Dr. Mark Musick,
President, Southern Regional Education Board, Atlanta, Georgia will
speak on "A Regional Planning Initiative for East European Nations:
CEPAD - A Compact for Educational Planning, Accreditation, and
Development."

CONTRIBUTED PAPERS

Contributions directed toward the thematic areas and the traditional
orientations of AUDEM are invited. Time allotted will be about 15
minutes for each paper plus limited time for questions.

The deadline for receipt of papers including titles, authors' names and
institutional affiliation and addresses, and an abstract of 100-200
words is October 5. These contributions should be sent to the Program
Chair for this Conference, Dr. Julia M. Watkins, President, American
University in Bulgaria.

Papers from the North American Continent should be sent to Dr. Watkins
at: American University in Bulgaria, 1725 K Street, Suite 411, Washington,
DC 20006-1401

>From Europe, papers should be sent to Dr. Watkins at: American University
in Bulgaria, Blagoevgrad 2700, Bulgaria. Papers received after October 5
are not likely to be included in the program.

Possible session titles are:

* Human Values and Motivations in Democracies
* Human Rights
* Developing Balkan Universities
* Strengthening the Civil Society
* University-Community Interactions
* Protecting Ownership of Real and Intellectual Property
* Culture and the Arts
* Dealing with Intra-Institutional Ethnic Diversity
* Technology-Related Social Problems and Changes
* Programs for Students to Study Abroad
* Intra-University Cooperation in Teaching and Research
* Inter-University Cooperation
* Cooperation Between Universities and Research Institutes
* Universities and Industries
* Keeping Up with Technologies for Teaching
* Distance Learning between University Groups
* Curriculum-Content Changes Needed to Keep Pace with Science and
  Technology Developments
* New Developments in Teaching the Social Sciences
* Systems of Organizing Higher Education in a States, Countries and
  Regions
* The Roles and Importance of Community (two-year) Colleges
* Globalization of Classes and Curricula, and Degree Programs
* Library Development Issues
* Journalism and Journalism Education




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