National Adult Education Conference Has Strong Arkansas Presence

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Adult and Lifelong Learning graduate students and U of A faculty enjoy dinner together while attending the AAACE Conference in St. Louis.

The 68th Annual Conference of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education once again had a strong showing of University of Arkansas faculty and students. At this year's meeting in St. Louis, six faculty presented original research along with 11 students and three alumni.

"Our Adult and Lifelong Learning graduate program is one of the oldest in the country and is seen as a leader in advancing research," said Michael Hevel, head of the Department of Rehabilitation, Human Resources, and Communication Disorders, the academic home of the ADLL program. "Faculty and students have really become engaged in this professional society, and I think our growing national reputation is a direct result of their presence."

All three adult and lifelong learning faculty members, Kenda Grover, Kit Kacirek, and Kevin Roessger, presented original research, along with the department's new assistant professor of human resource and workforce development, Yuanlu Niu. From the higher education program, both John W. Murry Jr. and Michael T. Miller presented papers on their research. Vicki Diffenderfer, program coordinator of the Human Resource and Workforce Development program, also represented the U of A.

"Our student representation at the AAACE conference is probably the largest in the country," said ADLL faculty member Kenda Grover. "It is amazing to see how involved and engaged they are in conducting and presenting research."

Students presenting their research at the conference included Julie Galliart, Elaine Thorton, Lori Dreiling, Robin Freeman, Heather Campbell, Daniel Parker, Brendan Csapass, Karen Liebhaber, John Kelly, Kathleen Dorn, Susan Bradley and Jane Eller.

In addition to the strong presence of research participation, Roessger continues to serve as the editor of Adult Education Quarterly, the association's journal, and Grover was elected to be the new program chair for the 2021 conference.