Keynotes
Opening Keynote: The Fierce Urgency of Connection: Strengthening Community Engagement Through Trust, Dialogue, and Collaboration
Sunday, October 11, 2026 at 11:45 am
This keynote explores how institutions of higher education can strengthen community engagement efforts that foster trust, collaboration, and shared problem-solving in times of rapid social, economic, and institutional change. Drawing from research and leadership experience in community resilience, student success, and organizational transformation, Dr. Anneliese Singh will examine how universities and community partners can build sustainable partnerships that expand opportunity, civic participation, mutual care, community well-being, and opportunity for all. The session will highlight practical strategies for cultivating meaningful dialogue across perspectives, strengthening connections between campuses and communities, and responding to polarization through building civic trust and deepening understanding. Participants will leave with actionable approaches for advancing community impact, responsive leadership, collective healing, democratic participation, and collaborative innovation through service-learning and community engagement.
Anneliese Singh, PhD, LPC is a Professor and Chief Officer/Associate Provost of Academic Excellence and Opportunity at Tulane University. Anneliese’s scholarship and community organizing explores racial healing, racial justice, and funded work with trans and nonbinary people, with a focus on people of color and young people. Anneliese is the author of The Racial Healing Handbook: and The Queer and Trans Resilience Workbook.
Closing Keynote: Meeting the Moment: A Closing Fireside Chat
Tuesday, October 13, 2026 at 11:30 am
By the end of this conference, we willl have shared and learned a lot: new research, hard conversations, and ideas we're still working out. This closing session is a chance to sit with all of it and ask what comes next.
Dr. Rajesh Tandon, who has spent his career turning research into real-world change across India, South Asia, and beyond, joins Dr. Stacey Muse (IARSLCE Chair) for a candid conversation about what solidarity and trust demand of us right now, and what's making this work harder, or just different, than it used to be. They'll also name tensions many of us experience: between teaching, research, and practice; between institutions of education and the communities we work alongside; between global ideas and local realities. The audience will help steer the conversation through live questions and polling.
Dr. Rajesh Tandon is an internationally acclaimed leader and practitioner of participatory research and development. He is Founder-President of Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a global centre for participatory research & training. He is also Co-Chair of the UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education since 2012. Engineering in Electronics from IIT, Kanpur, MBA from IIM Calcutta and PhD in Management from Case Western Reserve University, USA, Dr. Tandon left his teaching job at IIM Calcutta to support & champion the cause of building organizations and capacities of the marginalised through their knowledge, learning and empowerment. A pioneer of participatory research, Dr. Tandon has given new meaning to academic research by redefining the relationship between the researcher and the researched. He has been contributing to the emergence of several local, national and international initiatives to promote authentic and participatory development of societies. Dr. Tandon has taught courses on participatory research & democratic governance around the world, and he has written more than 100 books, articles and training manuals on participatory research, social responsibility of higher education, civil society & local governance. A recipient of multiple awards, Dr. Tandon received the Nehru Literacy Award from the Indian Adult Education Association (IAEA) in 2015 and was honored by the Government of India with the prestigious Award in ‘Social Justice’ in March 2007. He is the first Indian to be inducted to the International Adult and Continuing Education (IACE) Hall of Fame (class of 2011) and in the Academy of Engagement Scholarship in 2019.
