In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 CUMU Annual Conference will be transitioned to a virtual event—one that rivals what you’ve come to expect from CUMU and our conference. While not meeting in person is a disappointment, we are excited for this new challenge and are completely committed to delivering a dynamic experience that allows us to safely connect in new ways.

Here’s what we know:

  • Call for Proposals: We are taking down our current call for proposals, but will re-open it in the coming weeks with new guidance. NOTE: Current proposals that have been submitted will be integrated into the updated review process. We can’t host our event without you and your work.
  • Refunds: If you’ve already registered for the in-person event, you will automatically receive a refund.
  • Sponsors: We are truly thankful that our early committed sponsors—Annie E. Casey Foundation, Academic Search, and U3 Advisors—have confirmed their commitment to support this fall’s virtual event—each one noting they firmly stand behind CUMU’s mission.
  • Virtual Conference Programming: We have requested input from our membership via email.

CUMU will be working during June to design our 2020 CUMU conference experience. Our intention is to design a virtual conference that is engaging, relevant, and valuable. We recognize we are all facing a bit of “zoom-fatigue” and want to design an experience that builds upon what makes each in-person meeting so meaningful. We will prioritize sharing by members, bringing to the forefront the most critical issues facing our work, creating practical takeaways for attendees, pulling back the curtain on the work to share challenges as well as successes, and raising up the work and stories of our institutions and the cities we are all committed to.

CUMU’s annual conference has become a highly-regarded platform of authentic dialogue where we ‘pull back the curtain’ and wrestle with what’s happening in our home communities in open and honest ways, just like leaders from Buffalo State, Cal State San Marcos, Johns Hopkins, and Oakland University reiterated in this new video.

For everyone who was excited to convene in San Diego, we’re happy to announce we’ve negotiated with our hotel to host our conference there in 2022. We can’t wait to work with our local CUMU member partners at University of San Diego and Cal State San Marcos to highlight the incredible work happening there.

Thank you for all you are doing to support your students, institutions, and communities. Like you, we are using this moment to make some important and thoughtful programmatic shifts to find new ways to connect and move our collective work forward over the next year, and beyond.