Engaging, inspiring speakers contribute enormously to the success of our conference.
Thank you for providing your presentation proposal for our consideration!

As the Catholic liberal education movement matures, ICLE is happy to offer again this year a Scholars Track at our National Conference. The Scholars Track will feature academic presentations with papers on topics ranging from literature to math, theology to music.

As a theological virtue, hope is a gift of God’s grace anchored in the reality of the Incarnation. It is received in humility and docility and reveals that we are made in the image and likeness of God, beckoning us toward ultimate human flourishing.

The 2027 ICLE National Conference theme, “The Reason for Our Hope,” invites Catholic educators to ground their mission in a Christological anthropology, recognizing Jesus as both the model and the means of Catholic human formation. It calls us to follow Christ the Teacher who forms us by uniquely uniting wonder with reason in the truth of His own person. 

Aristotle noted that wonder is the beginning of philosophy, and the Church offers wonder as the starting point of faith. Authentic Catholic education is a path of transformation in Christ. It is an education made possible by humbling the soul through an encounter with reality: a geometric proof, the order of creation, or the beauty of a poem. By providing a framework for what ignites wonder, we prepare our students to see how all truth coheres in Christ, and this gives us hope for both the renewal of Catholic education and for our ultimate destiny in Him.

We invite you to join us at the 2027 National Conference as we renew our calling, always at the ready to give the reason for our hope.

Where possible, we encourage papers that draw from and reflect the conference theme, but we also consider separate topics.

As you prepare your proposal, please keep the following in mind:

• The proposal deadline is Monday, February 8, 2027.
• Proposals should be in the form of a 300-word abstract.
• You will be notified by Monday, March 1, 2027 regarding the status of your proposal.
• Scholars Track presenters are chosen from among our registered National Conference attendees. We are pleased to offer a small honorarium; however, we are unable to waive the speaker’s registration and travel costs. If your proposal is accepted, you are asked to register yourself for the Conference within a week.
• Each Scholars Track block is 50 minutes in length. You will be paired with another presenter. During the session, each presenter will be allotted 18 minutes to present, leaving time at the end of the session for about 15 minutes of Q and A. Please note that a moderator / time-keeper will be assigned to each room.
• Any handouts will be made available to participants electronically. (We will collect the digital copies of your handouts closer to the Conference date.) If you need to use printed handouts during your session, kindly bring them with you because copying facilities at the conference venue are limited. Please bring about 50 copies of each handout.
  
• Please note that we will record the audio of each presentation. Conference attendees have access to all the recordings for at least 90 days after the end of the program.
• For reference, please view the 2026 program HERE.

Please submit your proposal using this form.  Complete the form once for each separate proposal.  

For questions about your submission, please Contact Elisabeth Sullivan, Vice President of Mission Advancement, at [email protected].