FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Southeastern Council on Family Relations has scheduled its annual conference and is taking proposals for papers and presentations.

The conference is April 2-4 in Birmingham, Alabama, and proposals are being accepted until Dec. 15, according to SECFR President James Duncan, who is a human development and family sciences adjunct instructor in U of A's School of Human Environmental Sciences.

The theme for the conference is "A Vision for Families: Exploring and Solidifying Professional Identity in Family Sciences." The first part (A Vision for Families) is meant to encourage students, faculty and professionals to submit proposals for poster and oral presentations on topics relevant to their "vision" of family well-being and/or family functioning as related to programs, policy, research, theory and quantitative or qualitative work.

The second part (Exploring and Solidifying Professional Identity in Family Sciences) is meant to encourage faculty and professionals to submit workshop and roundtable proposals on topics that can provide future family science professionals with information, ideas and mentorship related to the field.

The keynote speaker will be Francesca Adler-Baeder, professor and extension specialists in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at Auburn University, principal investigator of The Alabama Healthy Marriage & Relationship Education Initiative and director of the National Stepfamily Resource Center.

Last year's conference was held in Bentonville. Ashley Berghoff, a U of A human development and family sciences major, won the undergraduate poster competition with her "Linking Learning Disabilities with Long-Term Mental Health" presentation. She was advised by human development and family sciences assistant professor Amanda Williams. Benjamin Burke from Auburn University won the graduate poster award. He was advised by Duncan.

Conference details are here. SECFR is an affiliate of the National Council on Family Relations, which focuses on family research, practice and education.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2.7 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.