2007 Conference Information

32^nd Annual Conference, October 25-28, 2007
Omni William Penn Hotel
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.

Please read this information completely before preparing your registration form. You may scroll through the information, or you may link to the various segments as indicated in the directory below.

You can also print portions or the entire document here.

• View Complete 2007 Conference Program (1.6 meg PDF)
   
• Invitation to attend
• Overview of the POD Network and Conference
• 2007 Conference theme
• Topical Areas
• Schedule at a glance
• Conference fees
• Plenary sessions
• Topical interest groups
• Pre-conference workshops (descriptions and costs)
• Educational expeditions
• Special activities requiring advance planning
  • Job fair
  • Graduate Student Professional Developer breakfast
  • Resource fair
  • Vendor exhibit
• Hotel reservations and shipping information
• Travel information

• Registration forms and registration instructions

  • 2007 Conference Registration Form - Electronic format (use this form for secure electronic conference registration)

  • 2007 Conference Registration Form – HTML format (use this printable version for Fax or mailing)

Invitation to Attend

Dear Colleagues,

You are enthusiastically invited to attend the 2007 POD Conference to be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., from October 25–28. Our theme, “Purpose, Periphery, and Priorities,” offers an opportunity for engagement and reflection within the networking tradition that is a hallmark of POD.

Those who have attended a POD conference in the past know that this is not your typical academic meeting. If you are new to the organization, we heartily welcome you to a uniquely friendly and nurturing community of colleagues.

At this conference, you will experience interactive workshops, plenary sessions, roundtable discussions, and posters.  We promote dialogue among colleagues outside of formal sessions through shared meals, educational expeditions, and the resource fair, where colleagues freely share ideas and materials with one another.  At the Saturday evening banquet, we will celebrate past achievements and look forward together to the future. 

There are three new features this year: 

1.   Through Topical Interest Groups, newcomers and experienced folks alike are invited to gather and discuss common interests. 

2.   We are hosting a Vendor Exhibit for publishers and consultants to sell their materials and services. 

3.   At the same time as the Saturday evening dance, a student jazz ensemble will perform in an informal setting conducive to conversation.  (Of note, Pittsburgh is home to many jazz musicians and educational programs.) 

We are delighted to be hosting the conference at the Omni William Penn Hotel, a beautifully restored historic landmark in the center of town.  The hotel is rich with detail and is situated close to the bridges, inclines, and vistas that define Pittsburgh.  

We encourage you to register for the conference by September 21 in order to take advantage of the early bird conference rate and to reserve your room at the conference hotel.  The pre-conference sessions are scheduled for Thursday, October 25, and the opening dinner and president’s address will be held that evening.  Please plan on staying through Sunday morning so that you can take advantage of the concurrent sessions scheduled then.

Teaching, learning, and professional and organizational development issues continue to grow in importance in higher education.  As POD’s international membership and conference attendance increases, we expect this year’s theme to foster engaging comparisons of different cultural, institutional, and personal priorities. We hope that our time together will inspire your work, stimulate your thinking, and refresh your spirit.

Please join us in Pittsburgh for an enriching and rejuvenating conference!

Sincerely,
Peter Felten and Therese Huston, Conference Chairs
Kathryn Plank and Laurel Willingham-McLain, Program Chairs
 

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Overview of the POD Network and Conference

The POD Network

POD supports a network of over 1,600 members who have an interest in educational and organizational development. While POD members come primarily from the U.S.A. and Canada, the membership also represents 20 other countries. Through its members the POD Network leads and supports change for the improvement of higher education through faculty, instructional, and organizational development.

The POD Network seeks to promote these values:

• Scholarship

• Participation

• Interaction

• Collaboration

• Inclusion

The POD Mission

The POD Network in Higher Education fosters human development in higher education through faculty, graduate student, instructional, and organizational development. POD believes that people have value, as individuals and as members of groups. POD considers the development of students a fundamental purpose of higher education that requires for its success effective advising, teaching, leadership, and management. Central to POD's philosophy is lifelong, holistic, personal, and professional learning, growth, and change for the higher education community.

The POD Annual Conference

The annual conference attracts over 700 people, and primarily targets practitioners in educational development, both novice and experienced. The conference also appeals to these groups:

• Administrators

• Faculty

• Graduate student developers

• Graduate students

• Independent consultants

• Publishers for the above audiences

• Members of higher education organizations

 Collectively, program sessions do the following:

• Actively engage participants

• Reflect current research and theoretical frameworks

• Involve colleagues from around the world

• Address the needs of graduate students and both new and experienced faculty

• Include elements for personal growth

• Describe working partnerships

• Demonstrate diversity in cultures, collaborations, and planning

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2007 Conference Theme

Pittsburgh’s landscape is dominated by the three rivers that surround the city, as featured in the conference logo. The rivers are constantly in motion around the city, shaping its borders and helping to define its landscape. Likewise, each of us sets our priorities, both individually and collectively, but things in the periphery continually reshape and test that sense of purpose.

 This year’s conference invites participants to raise important questions about what we choose to prioritize in higher education and what we choose to leave in the periphery. For good work to be done, it is important to prioritize some goals over others, but when we effectively focus our attention on one complex task, we often lose sight of others. This balance between priority and periphery, therefore, raises important questions:

• How do we make choices about our purpose and priorities in the academy and in our professional lives?

• What should be at the center of who we are and what we do, and what do we intentionally put in the periphery?

• What is currently in the periphery that should be brought back in to clearer focus?

We look for this conference to elicit research findings and practical strategies to help make these discernments and put them into practice. Sessions, mealtime conversations, and educational expeditions will stimulate dialogues around these issues as we collaborate in this effort to become more mindful of our choices. We anticipate that the diversity within POD will foster discussion of different perspectives and the opportunity to respectfully challenge one another’s assumptions about priority and periphery.

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Topical Areas

Each conference session fits one or more of these conference topical areas.

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Schedule at a Glance

Pre-conference sessions begin Thursday, October 25, at 8:30 am. The opening conference dinner and President’s Address will be Thursday evening at 6:30 pm. Concurrent sessions begin on Friday, October 26, at 8:30 am. The conference will end on Sunday, October 28 at 11:15 am. You won’t want to miss a minute of this exciting conference. Please make your travel plans so that you can stay until the conclusion of the conference for maximum learning and networking.

Wednesday, October 24

Thursday, October 25

Friday October 26

Saturday October 27

Sunday, October 28

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Conference Fees

Conference registration fees are outlined below. They are also detailed on the registration form.  These fees are in U.S. dollars, and payment must be made in U.S. dollars.

Please Note:  Due to significantly higher food prices in Pittsburgh, the 2007 conference fees needed to be increased. While this is regrettable, it is necessary to preserve POD’s tradition of communal meals and networking. In this spirit we’ll be offering three light continental breakfasts on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning in addition to the usual two lunches and two dinners.

All conference participants are required to be current members of the POD Network. (N.B. International membership applies to persons from countries other than Canada, Mexico, and the United States.)  Non-member fees include a one-year membership.

Please note that the conference registration fee includes the designated conference meals (see Schedule at a Glance).

Pre-conference workshops, educational expeditions, and the graduate student developer breakfast are all optional activities, and fees for these are in addition to the registration and membership fees.

Membership fees:

Pre-Conference Workshop Fees

Pre-conference workshops are presented in half-day and full-day formats. The fee for a full-day workshop is $125. The half-day workshop fee is $75. The discounted fee for two half-day workshops is $125. For some workshops a special materials fee is included. See the pre-conference workshop section for more details.

Vendor Exhibit

The fee for conference registrants to have exhibit space is $50, and for non-registrants, $200.

Educational Expeditions

The fees vary, and are included in the descriptions of the expeditions.

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Plenary Sessions

Friday, October 26, 1:00 – 2:00 pm

“Reasonable Accommodation: Disability Studies and Liberal Education”

Michael Bérubé, Paterno Family Professor in Literature at The Pennsylvania State University

Michael Bérubé is the author of six books and editor of two more, including: Life As We Know It:  A Father, A Family, and an Exceptional Child (Pantheon, 1996; paper edition, Vintage, 1998); What’s Liberal About the Liberal Arts? Classroom Politics and “Bias” in Higher Education (W. W. Norton, 2006) and Rhetorical Occasions: Essays on Humans and the Humanities (University of North Carolina Press, 2006). Bérubé has written over a hundred and fifty essays for a wide variety of academic journals such as American Quarterly, the Yale Journal of Criticism, Social Text, and Modern Fiction Studies, as well as more popular venues such as Harper's, the New Yorker, Dissent, The New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post, the Nation, the Toronto Globe and Mail, and the Boston Globe. Life As We Know It was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year for 1996 and was chosen as one of the best books of the year (on a list of seven) by Maureen Corrigan of National Public Radio.

Saturday, October 27, 10:30 – 11:30 am

“Making Learning a Priority: Insights from Minority High Achievers”

Sharon Fries-Britt, Associate Professor of Education Policy and Leadership, College of Education, University of Maryland

Sharon Fries-Britt’s research and many publications focus on the academic, social and psychological experiences of college students. She is a Co-Principal Investigator on a grant to study race, equity and diversity in the 23 southern and border states funded by the Lumina Foundation. She is particularly interested in the experiences of high ability Black collegians and their interactions with faculty, peers and the extended Black community. She is a consultant and research associate for the National Society of Black Physicists exploring patterns of success in minority physicists. Fries-Britt previously has been a Visiting Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and she served for nearly ten years as the Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of Maryland College Park. She currently serves on the National Advisory Board for the ERIC Clearinghouse and as a member of The College Board’s National Task Force on Minority High Achievement.
 

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Topical Interest Groups

As conference attendance continues to grow, we want to maintain the informal community traditions upon which POD is built by providing an opportunity for colleagues to gather around common interests.  We are exploring interest groups as a means to bring together newcomers and more experienced educational developers, and to promote deeper interaction than can sometimes occur in conference sessions.

We will designate a place and facilitator for each of the 11 conference topics both on Thursday at 8:30 pm and at the Saturday morning breakfast at 7:30 am.

In addition to topical interest groups, we will continue the Saturday lunch tradition of “name your own topic,” where colleagues can designate any topic they like and invite others to the table for discussion.

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Pre-Conference Workshops

Pre-conference workshop enrollment is limited.
Sign up early to reserve a space!

 Full-day Pre-conference Workshop

W-1.  Getting Started: Workshop for New Faculty Developers

Todd Zakrajsek, Central Michigan University; Michael Sweet and Karron Lewis, University of Texas – Austin; Phyllis Worthy Dawkins, Johnson C. Smith University; James Eison, University of South Florida

Thursday, October 25, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm

This session is designed to assist new faculty developers in gaining the skills necessary to be effective and to help them determine which activities will best serve their campuses. The session will include communication with participants before the workshop to help co-create the day's agenda. Led by experienced faculty developers from diverse institutions, "Getting Started" will address specific needs of the participants and even have "breakouts" to address a variety of issues. The goal for the day will be for each participant to walk away with concrete ideas of ways to best move forward at their own institution.

Fee: $175
(Includes workshop fee, a copy of The Guide to Faculty Development, and lunch)

Half-day Pre-conference Workshops

A discount of $25 will be applied if you sign up for both a morning and afternoon half-day pre-conference workshop. This discount has already been applied to the price for W-1.

Thursday lunch is not included except for workshop W-1.

Morning Workshops

W-2.  Bringing Assessment Results to the Faculty

Thomas Nelson Laird, Jillian Kinzie and Todd Chamberlain, Indiana University

Thursday, October 25, 8:30 am – 12 pm

Under growing pressure from multiple constituencies, campuses need to demonstrate how they use assessment results to guide efforts aimed at improving undergraduate education. This workshop presents applications of the combined use of pre-college, engagement, and faculty data to inform productive discussions about teaching, learning, and the quality of students’ educational experiences. Workshop participants will gain a greater understanding of results from the National Survey of Student Engagement and its two companion surveys. Participants will discuss how to effectively bring such results to different groups of faculty and develop specific plans for using assessment results in their own work.

Fee: $75

W-3.  With Mindful Purpose: Coaching as a Strategy for Teaching Consultations

Deandra Little and Michael Palmer, University of Virginia

Thursday, October 25, 8:30 am – 12 pm

Using professional coaching techniques in consultation settings enables us to act as agents of positive change promoting effective faculty development. After an overview of coaching and how it relates to common consultation roles, participants will engage in a series of exercises to practice three key coaching components we've adapted for consultations—Deep Listening, Powerful Questioning, and Prompting Action—and to take on the roles of coach, coachee, and observer. This highly interactive session will conclude by discussing the benefits and challenges of this technique, including ways to be mindful of cultural, developmental, and personal differences that may require different strategies.

Fee: $75

W-4.  Motivations and Attitudes: The Affective Domain in Teaching and Learning

Jeff Johnston, Vanderbilt University; Cathy Manduca, Carleton College; Ed Nuhfer, California State University, Channel Islands; James Rhem, The National Teaching & Learning FORUM

Thursday, October 25, 8:30 am – 12 pm

When we think of teaching and learning in a college classroom, we usually focus on the cognitive domain: the skills and concepts that students must master to learn the course content. However, the affective domain plays a critical role in student learning. It governs students’ willingness to learn, ability to accept new ideas, and motivation to seek and use new knowledge. Organizations’ influences on affective domains affect true diversity and creativity. This session invites participants to consider how the affective domain influences their own philosophies of faculty development, and to develop strategies for incorporating affective issues into their work as faculty developers.

Fee: $75

W-5.  Capitalizing on Diversity: Using Collaborative Learning to Engage All Learners

Elizabeth Barkley, Foothill College

Thursday, October 25, 8:30 am – 12 pm

Many faculty struggle with diversity, searching for ways to accommodate the multiple and varied needs of a wide range of students. Collaborative learning converts student diversity from a challenge to an asset by engaging students of all backgrounds, and calling upon and honoring individual knowledge and perspectives. In this workshop, participants will model and practice a wide range of techniques as they learn how to use collaborative learning to engage all learners. Participants will leave this workshop equipped with powerful strategies on how to use group work effectively to solve the pedagogical challenges of today’s diverse classroom.

Fee: $75

W-6.  Working With Faculty to Develop SoTL: Teaching Projects, Assessment, Publication

Milt Cox, Greg Wentzell and Cecilia Shore, Miami University of Ohio

Thursday, October 25, 8:30 am – 12 pm

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is increasing in international interest and production, and faculty/educational developers are becoming involved with assisting faculty in developing classroom research projects that can lead to SoTL. In this workshop for developers, faculty, and administrators, we will learn about and share strategies that have proven successful in developing SoTL, from teaching projects and assessment of student learning to preparation for presentations and publication. We will discuss the results of a major survey that confirms the success of a community of practice approach to developing SoTL and the types of projects that were engaged by participating faculty.

Fee: $95
(Includes workshop fee and SoTL Handbook)

Afternoon Workshops

W-7.  Moving from Periphery to Priority: Peer Review of Teaching

Nancy Chism, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

Thursday, October 25, 1:00 – 4:30 pm

Would faculty members rather talk about peer review of teaching or have surgery without anesthesia? It’s debatable. Yet the review of peers is at the heart of any profession, and faculty are continually engaged in making decisions about hiring new colleagues, mentoring junior faculty, choosing teaching award winners, and assessing promotion and tenure cases. How do we make this work more intentional and systematic? This working session will generate ideas for engaging faculty and administrators in the peer review of teaching conversation. Together, we will generate alternative designs for workshops, consultations, and supportive resource materials.

Fee: $95
(Includes workshop fee and Peer Review of Teaching, 2^nd edition)

W-8.  Religion and Spirituality in the Academy: How Do Developers Respond?

Matthew Kaplan, University of Michigan; India McHale, The Pennsylvania State University

Thursday, October 25, 1:00 – 4:30 pm

In a survey of over 100,000 college students, nearly three-fourths indicated that they were searching for meaning/purpose in life. In what ways is such searching consonant with the core mission of a liberal education? What happens when religion and faith clash with the values of academic inquiry? How do these questions affect the work of academic developers? In this workshop, participants will experience strategies to help faculty foster dialogue around these issues, examine their own attitudes, discuss and critique theories of faith development, and analyze case studies that highlight how these issues affect the work of faculty and academic developers.

Fee: $75

W-9.  Re-problematizing the Disciplines: How We Can Transcend Academy’s False Priorities

William Roberson, University at Albany; Christine Reimers, Cornell University

Thursday, October 25, 1:00 – 4:30 pm

As professor-experts we are seduced by the familiarity of what we study. Consequently, the intellectual problems inherent in every discipline can (and often do) disappear from classroom discourse, buried under instructional procedures. The highest priority—learning to think critically—disappears beneath the false priorities of anticipating and limiting students’ errors. This workshop is designed for faculty developers and faculty seeking ways to decouple the idea of correctness from learning. Participants will experience activities that unpack the assumptions underpinning procedural instruction, construct a rhetoric transforming instruction, and foster development of new strategies for re-problematizing learning at their home campuses.

Fee: $75

W-10.  Becoming a Reflective Teacher

Karen Goh and Judith Williams, Republic Polytechnic (Singapore)

Thursday, October 25, 1:00 – 4:30 pm

The time and space set aside for faculty to reflect on teaching practices is often pushed aside by more pressing institutional needs such as curriculum and assessment design. Yet, as teaching staff, we expect our own learners to engage in meaningful reflection to consider their learning habits, ideologies, and strategies. This workshop confronts this pedagogical irony by creating a reflection space that explores our role as learning professionals. Participants will examine their strengths and potential blind spots as facilitators of learning, respond to questions that explore their teaching philosophy, and exchange ideas on empowering and rejuvenating themselves in the teaching profession.

Fee: $75

W-11.  Understanding Organizational Culture: The Missing Ingredient in Leading Institutional Change

Gail Latta, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Thursday, October 25, 1:00 – 4:30 pm

Organizational culture represents a pivotal ingredient in the successful implementation of institutional change. Yet existing models of organizational change fail to incorporate cultural knowledge as a basis for informing change agents’ thought processes, decisions, and actions. Ethnographic research at four Land Grant institutions provided the basis for deriving a Model of Organizational Change in Cultural Context that advances current leadership theory and practice. This model delineates the critical junctures where leaders’ consideration of organizational culture mediates the success of institutional change initiatives. Participants will interact with cultural knowledge from this study to propose alternative strategies for positive institutional change.

Fee: $75

W-12.  Strategies for Aligning Student and Instructor Perceptions in STEM Courses

Karen Freisem and Jennie Dorman, University of Washington

Thursday, October 25, 1:00 – 4:30 pm

Our research suggests that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instructors and students often have differing perceptions of (1) what it means to know and learn in STEM disciplines, and (2) the relevance and purpose of course material. These perceptions can become obstacles to successful teaching and learning in STEM courses. Participants will examine student perception data, identify areas where student and instructor perceptions differ, and consider concrete strategies for bringing these perceptions into closer alignment. We will also explore ways that participants can utilize this framework and apply these strategies in their own work with (or as) STEM instructors.

Fee: $75

W-13.  Pedagogical and Professional Peripheries in Preparing Future Faculty: From TA to Postdoc

Laura L. B. Border, University of Colorado-Boulder; Dieter Schönwetter, University of Manitoba; Elizabeth O'Connor Chandler, University of Chicago

Thursday, October 25, 1:00 – 4:30 pm

This workshop, presented by US and Canadian developers with a total of 52 years experience, addresses the continuum of graduate student development from teaching assistant to postdoc and prepares teaching centers, graduate schools, and disciplinary faculty and personnel to develop graduate students pedagogically and professionally. The presenters will discuss different institutional models (including funding) of graduate student development, current research, and an approach to planning and workshop design. Small groups will discuss graduate student development, how to approach it, what to introduce at various development levels, and the basic competencies they think their programs should address. Each participant will draft a plan.

Fee: $75

W-14.  How's It Going? Reflecting on Our Work as New Developers

Margaret Cohen, University of Missouri - St. Louis; Peter Frederick, Wabash College; Lee Warren, Harvard University; Donald Wulff, University of Washington; John Zubizarreta, Columbia College

Thursday, October 25, 1:00 – 4:30 pm

"How's it Going?" offers faculty developers with fewer than four years of experience an opportunity to present their work, consult with veteran mentors, and develop networks to sustain the consultative processes initiated in this workshop. Participants present a selective portfolio of their center's work and target one issue for discussion. The wisdom that emerges from small group exchanges between early career and veteran faculty developers will be recorded so that participants acquire a set of evaluative questions and strategies to use reflectively as they pursue the vision of faculty development on campus. Portfolio guidelines will be distributed in advance.

Fee: $75

W-15.  Special Session for Administrators: Faculty Development and Institutional Empowerment

Dee Fink, National Consultant; Devorah Lieberman, Wagner College

Thursday, October 25, 1:00 – 4:30 pm

This session is designed to help university administrators (presidents, provosts, deans, chairs) better understand the meaning and value of faculty development for their institution. Our premise is that faculty members constitute the "front line" for accomplishing the work of the institution. Programs that enhance faculty capabilities (i.e., faculty development, broadly defined) are crucial to enhancing the ability of the institution to accomplish its particular goals and mission. After exploring this relationship between faculty development and institutional empowerment, we will examine the various forms that faculty development can take and address the kinds of support that such programs need from administrators.

Fee: $75

A discount of $25 will be applied if you sign up for both a morning and afternoon pre-conference workshop. This discount has already been applied to the price for W-1.

Thursday lunch is not included except for workshop W-1.

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Educational Expeditions

Our educational expeditions provide yet another kind of networking opportunity for conference participants while they also enjoy scenic, historical, and cultural sites in the region. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis and must be indicated on the conference registration form when you send it in. There are enrollment minimums and maximums.

On-site registration for educational expeditions will be accepted on a space-available basis, and there is an additional fee of $10 for on-site registration. Because of transportation scheduling and contracts, refund requests/cancellations for expeditions can be honored only if you cancel your entire conference registration before October 1. Departure points will be indicated in the conference program. Please check the conference newsletter and bulletin board for any last minute changes.

E1 – Fallingwater
http://www.paconserve.org/fw-about.asp
Thursday, October 25, 8:30 am – 1:30 pm

Fallingwater is recognized as one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most acclaimed works. In a poll of the members of the American Institute of Architects in 1991, it was voted “the best all-time work of American architecture.” This house, built atop a waterfall, is a supreme example of Wright’s concept of organic architecture, which promotes harmony between man and nature through design so well integrated with its site that buildings, furnishings, and surroundings become part of an interrelated composition. Lunch on your own (café and gift shop on location).

Fee: $37            Min: 25/Max: 28

E2 – Andy Warhol Museum
http://warhol.org/
Friday, October 26, 2:15 – 4:15 pm

Pittsburgh’s native Andy Warhol is arguably the most popular modern artist. His Campbell’s Soups, Marilyn, Liz, Elvis have become emblems of American Pop Art. But there is much more to his art! The seven-floor museum displays more than 500 works of art, drawn from its extensive collections of works by Andy Warhol in all media, as well as from its huge archives. The galleries are ever-changing, exhibiting works arranged in an integrated, interdisciplinary manner. With film, video, and archival materials shown together with paintings, prints, and drawings, the museum offers the visitor a comprehensive presentation of the development of Warhol's work. In addition to the permanent collection, a special exhibition titled Georgia O'Keeffe and Andy Warhol will be on display.

Fee: $26            Min: 10/Max: 29                       

E3 – Retreat at 1902 Landmark Tavern (organized by the ElderPOD group)
Friday, October, 26, 6:00 – 10:00 pm

This event is a reunion and retreat most appropriate for those who began coming to POD in or before 1994. At a lovely restaurant close to the conference hotel, we will be able to meet, eat, drink, talk, and check in with each other! A focusing theme might be "Leaving a Legacy and/or Creating New Vistas" since we all seem to be doing either or some of both. Dinner will be served. Leader:  Lee Warren.

Fee: $50                       Min: 10/Max: 45

E4 – Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors at the Pittsburgh Public Theater
http://www.ppt.org/content/showstickets.cfm?showId=9
Friday, October 26, 8:00 pm

Two sets of identical twins are separated in childhood. Years later, they all show up in the same place at the same time, creating mayhem and non-stop laughs. This fast-paced, flat-out farce is Shakespeare at his funniest. Gangsters! Music! Nuns! This play has it all, in a spectacular production set in New York's Little Italy. It's The Sopranos, The Marx Brothers and The Rat Pack, with a little bit of William Shakespeare thrown in for fun. Directed by Ted Pappas, one of Pittsburgh’s most acclaimed directors, The Public is the newest theater in Pittsburgh, part of the downtown renaissance as the cultural district. With their unique three-quarter thrust stage — the audience surrounds the actors on three sides — The Public offers intimate, engaging, professional theater.

Fee: $25           Min: 10/Max: 50

E5 – Tour of the “real” Pittsburgh
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/dcooper/universitymural.html
Saturday, October 27, 1:30 – 4:30 pm

In order to get a feel for the “real” Pittsburgh, you need to experience the variety of its neighborhoods. Carnegie Mellon professor of Architecture and internationally recognized muralist Doug Cooper will take you on a bus/walking tour of the city, including a walk through his favorite Pittsburgh neighborhood, the Southside Slope. The tour will also take you to places renowned in Pittsburgh's past such as the site of Forbes Field, the one-time home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the J&L mill. The trip will conclude with a guided tour of Doug's well-known Carnegie Mellon University Center Mural – in effect you'll see the translation of the real place and its associated memories into a work of public art.

Fee: $31           Min: 10/Max: 29

E6 – Tour of Oakland: Nationality Rooms and Carnegie Museum
http://www.pitt.edu/~natrooms/pages/about_nr.html
http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/
Saturday, October 27, 1:30 pm – 5:00 pm

On the University of Pittsburgh campus, between 1938 and 1999, 26 classrooms, each representing a different cultural heritage, have been constructed within the Cathedral of Learning. From China to Italy, from India to England, each classroom represents the beauty and heritage of a particular country—and the intercultural ties that the descendents of those cultures, now living in America, continue to cherish. University of Pittsburgh students often speak of the very special experiences they gain from participating in classes held in such elegant and culture-rich classrooms. Just across the street from the University of Pittsburgh campus, the Carnegie Complex contains the region's main public library, a music hall, a fine arts museum, and a natural history museum (which contains the world’s largest collection of dinosaur fossils and skeletons). Oakland is on a very well served bus route, so we will take public transportation (have your spare change handy!).

Fee: $15           Min: 10/Max: 50

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Special Activities Requiring Advance Planning

Job Fair

On Friday morning, 8:00–10:00 am, the POD Job Fair will be held. This session should be considered a networking "meet and greet" opportunity, not a time for formal interviews. Job candidates in particular are likely to have more success if they meet face-to-face with potential employers rather than just dropping off a resume; the time can then be used to learn more about the position and the employing institution. Potential employers can use this time to plan a subsequent appointment during the conference for interviewing.

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Graduate Student Professional Developer Breakfast

Continuing a POD tradition, the Graduate Student Professional Developer Breakfast will be held on Saturday morning from 7:00–8:15 am. This is a ticketed event and you must select it on the conference registration form. This event is designed to facilitate networking among Graduate Student Professional Developers, and there is a POD committee devoted to these special interests. The breakfast meeting provides time to discuss directions, issues, and activities for the group and for the committee.

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Resource Fair

In past years, the Resource Fair has featured both non-profit and for-profit organizations. This year, we're offering two separate events to enable participants to spend more time with each: the Resource Fair and the Vendor Exhibit. The Resource Fair will feature tables ONLY from college- and university-affiliated programs and from non-profit organizations. The Vendor Exhibit (see below) will feature tables ONLY from businesses such as publishers and consultants.

The Resource Fair will be held on Friday evening from 5:30–7:00 pm, following which participants can enjoy "dinner on their own" or an educational expedition. The Resource Fair provides an opportunity to socialize while showcasing your programs by displaying and distributing information about your activities, resources, and services. Materials and services may NOT be offered for sale or promoted for sale during the Resource Fair. Companies and individuals wanting to solicit business during the POD Conference are asked to reserve a space during the Friday afternoon Vendor Exhibit (see below).

NOTE: If you wish to have a table at either the Resource Fair or the Vendor Exhibit, you must register for the conference and reserve your table in advance by checking the appropriate box on the conference registration form. You or your representative should plan to be at your table to talk with conference participants during the entire session.

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Vendor Exhibit

The Vendor Exhibit is a new event at the conference. The Exhibit will be held on Friday afternoon, 2:00–6:00 pm. The Vendor Exhibit is the only time at the conference when items or services may be offered or promoted for sale. We welcome publishers, consultants, and others. If you wish to reserve a table at this event, you must reserve your place in advance by checking the appropriate box on the conference registration form. The fee to reserve a table is $50 for conference attendees and $200 for vendors participating only in the Vendor Exhibit.

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Hotel Reservations and Shipping Information

Our 2007 POD conference will be held in the historic Omni William Penn Hotel, located in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.  The Omni Penn, built in 1916, has been restored to capture many of the original details of this luxury hotel. The hotel’s address is 530 William Penn Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. 

To make hotel reservations, please contact the Omni William Penn toll-free reservations number:  (800) 843-6664 [local: (412) 281-7100].

Please note:  you must identify yourself as a participant in the POD Network conference in order to receive the conference hotel rate. All conference attendees are responsible for making their own hotel reservations.

The POD Conference rate is available until September 26, at 5:00 pm, Eastern. After that date and time, the conference room rate cannot be guaranteed. We also strongly encourage you to stay through Sunday morning because we have concurrent sessions that morning.

Room rates for the POD Conference:

•  Single or Double:         $129 per night

•  Triple:                         $149 per night

•  Quad:                         $169 per night

Check-in time is after 3 pm and check-out is before 12:00 pm on the day of departure. 

Wireless internet access (WiFi) is free in guest rooms and the lobby if you sign up for the Omni’s free (and spam-free) Select Guest Program.

Note that the rates listed above are the conference room rate only. Conference meals are included in the conference registration fee.

The conference room rate is available to attendees for three days before and three days after the event.

Shipping Information:
Packages for the POD conference can be shipped to the Omni William Penn Hotel, 530 William Penn Place, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219. In addition to the hotel name, clearly indicate "POD Conference" on each package, the guest's name for whom the package should be held, and also indicate the date of arrival. A message will be left in the guest’s box, announcing package arrival. The sending of your package should be timed so as to arrive no more than 3 days before the conference.

Note the following:
Multiple packages within a single shipment should be numbered in sequence. It may be helpful to note individual package contents so that careful records of all materials may be maintained and the sender alerted in the event of damage or non-receipt. No C.O.D. shipments can be accepted; all shipping arrangements must be prepaid. It is advisable that all shipments be sent no sooner than seven days prior to the conference date.

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Travel Information

Situated where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers join to become the Ohio River, Pittsburgh is a busy inland river port with a rich history of some 90 ethnic communities and a population of 1.33 million people in the metro area.  Pittsburgh is preparing to celebrate its 250^th anniversary in 2008.  Known internationally for the production of steel, Pittsburgh also served as a center for glass production and, of course, is home to Heinz ketchup.  Now largely a post-industrial city, Pittsburgh has become a center for health care, higher education, technology, the arts and banking.

Visit the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau at http://www.visitpittsburgh.com/ for more information and downloadable guides.

Pittsburgh is located in southwestern Pennsylvania and can be reached by car in about 6 hours from Toronto, 7 hours from New York City, and 8 hours from Chicago.  It is served by an international airport located 20 miles from downtown.

Port Authority of Pittsburgh (public transit):  The 28X Airport Flyer bus takes about 40 minutes to travel between the airport and downtown.  The fare is $2.25 each way (exact change).  You are responsible for handling your own luggage; tipping operators is not permitted.  The bus departs every 20–30 minutes from 6 a.m. (5 a.m. on Sunday) to midnight.  Board on the baggage claim level of the airport and get off at Seventh & William Penn Place, downtown.  The bus stop is two short city blocks from the Omni William Penn Hotel, located at 530 William Penn Place.

Express Shuttle:  Available from the baggage claim level of the airport.  $19 one way; $34 round trip.  The shuttle operates every hour from 5 am – 6 pm.  It makes a stop at the Omni William Penn Hotel, located at 530 William Penn Place.

Taxis:  Available from the baggage claim level of the airport.  The fare is about $40 one-way, and driving time is about 25 minutes (depending on traffic).  The Omni William Penn Hotel is located at 530 William Penn Place.

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