[1] This Classroom is a Safe? Woke? Authentic? Space: Pedagogy for the Post-Millennial Generation.
Session Chairs: Elizabeth Pugliano, University of Colorado Denver; Lindsay Alberts, Savannah College of Art and Design

Generational divides have always existed in educational settings. Yet, as our classrooms fill with Zoomers and children of the Covid pandemic, the breadth of new challenges in classroom management, engagement, and professionalism and the pace at which they seem to arise feel increasingly dire. Amidst issues ranging from device dependency and distraction to the Gen-Z stare to mental health diagnoses to mismatched expectations regarding academic standards and appropriate classroom behavior, effectively teaching complex academic and artistic material while also navigating proliferating generational differences is a mounting difficulty for many faculty. Recognizing the frustration that can accompany such teaching experiences, this session aims to explore practical approaches to encountering, managing, and bridging this generational divide, increasing student engagement and buy-in, and diminishing friction between student and instructor.

We invite proposals highlighting practices or activities designed to mitigate generation-based classroom challenges such as (but not limited to) participation, deadlines, professionalism, technology, feedback, personal identity, subjectivity, and pronunciation. Focusing on classroom interactions and in-class practices rather than assignments or course topics, we encourage papers presenting concrete approaches, no matter how small, that have resulted in improved classroom environments that are responsive to the particularities of Gen Z, Gen Alpha and Gen Beta students.

Interested participants should submit a paper title and abstract (200 words max) through the SECAC submissions platform: https://secac.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/30/home. The deadline to submit a paper proposal is April 1, 2026, 11:59 PM EST. Notifications to applicants will be sent no later than May 25, 2026. PLEASE NOTE: All conference participants must be (or become) an active SECAC member in addition to paying the conference registration fee.

Please direct any questions regarding the session to the co-chairs, Elizabeth Pugliano (elizabeth.puglianoucdenver.edu) and Lindsay Alberts (lalbertsscad.edu). For questions regarding SECAC and/or the annual conference, please contact Academic Director Tracy Stonestreet (SECACdirectorumw.edu). For questions related to the application portal, please contact SECAC Administrator Rebecca Parker (rparkersecac.org).

Deadline: 01.04.2026

[2] New Uses for Old Things: Toward a History of Artists using the Old-Fashioned.
Session Chairs: Joseph Litts; Michael Hartman

What does the historical, the out-of-date, the old-fashioned offer artists, contemporary and otherwise? Retaining and reviving techniques and materials can be an important way of critiquing past injustices while celebrating survivance. From Will Wilson’s tintype portraits to Jordan Nassar’s cross-stitch landscapes, artists find new uses for old techniques and materials. Valerie Hegarty and Kent Monkman use historical works of art as a literal and conceptual basis for their practices, but both also utilize their academic training in surprising ways. For artists like Sarah Sockbeson and Demond Melancon, traditional crafts (basketry and beading, respectively) honor the past while offering a way forward. This is not a recent development, though the political valences have shifted: Paul Cadmus’s tempura paintings, the nineteenth-century etching revival, and Agostino Brunias’s frescos come to mind.

This panel thus invites submissions that examine how and why artists deliberately choose to use the old, especially techniques and materials. We are particularly interested in submissions that move beyond statements that an artist (re)presents the past to highlight historical absences. Instead, how do historical techniques and materials offer complex inspiration, and what are the phenomenologically affective qualities of using the frankly old-fashioned? We welcome submissions across geographies, temporalities, and career stages.

This panel will convene in person in Winston-Salem, NC, as part of the SECAC Annual Meeting. To apply, please submit your abstract of 200 words, CV, and contact information through the online portal: https://secac.secure-platform.com. Within the portal, please first select "Art History" and then this session's title from the drop-down menus. The portal will remain open for submissions until Wednesday, 01 April 2026 at 11.59 p.m. EDT. Please direct your questions to the chairs, Joseph Litts (jlittsprinceton.edu) and Michael Hartman (mhartmanrisd.edu). For general inquiries about the SECAC annual meeting, please contact Conference Director Tracy Stonestreet (SECACdirectorumw.edu).

Deadline: 01.04.2026