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Click the above buttons for the other conferences.
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| GERMANY, FRANCE & SWITZERLAND SEMI-ANNUAL CONFERENCES |
November 28 - December 3, 2010
Online submissions for the Christmas conference accepted until October 18, 2010.
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April 10 - 15, 2011
Online submissions for the Spring Conference accepted until March 1, 2011.
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| Freiburg in December |
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In cooperation with the German town of Gottenheim and its Mayor, the Honorable Volker Kieber, IJAS invites faculty and students for two multidisciplinary semi-annual conferences - the Christmas Conference and the Spring Conference - that are distinctly different from each other. At the same time, both of them span across Eucor's educational region, a conglomerate of five universities in Germany, France and Switzerland.
IJAS' six-day package consists of refereed research presentations in Gottenheim (outside Freiburg), Germany, and cultural programs in Eucor's educational region for which we will provide free private coaches on a daily basis from (a) Gottenheim's only train station and (b) Freiburg's main train station.
The programs are highly informative and will introduce the delegates to facets of European academia that until recently were compartmentalized away from each other through political barriers.
Delegates will have the option to participate free-of-charge in five complimentary programs spanning over:
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(a) France's Alsace and Strasbourg;
(b) Switzerland's Basel; and
(c) Germany's Black Forest, Freiburg and Heidelberg.
While the academic program is the same across the two semi-annual conferences, we highlight the difference across the geographical areas for those who are not familiar with the wider Eucor university region.
The Schengen visa is valid for all three countries.
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The IJAS Conference Series takes place annually in several cities across Europe and North America. The series has three primary aims.
The first aim is to provide opportunities for academics from a range of disciplines and countries to share their research both through the conference podium and IJAS' double-blind refereed publications. All IJAS conferences are inter- and multi-disciplinary.
The second aim of the Conference Series is to provide opportunities for academics to receive informal in-depth feedback through discussions, and to enable them to establish contact with professionals in other countries and institutions. The tours are the main way of "breaking the ice" away from the formalities of the conference hall, providing an informal setting for discussing different points of view. Even in an increasingly networked world of internet and satellite conferences, there is no substitute for personal interaction, what Edward R. Murrow calls "the last three feet of communication." It is individuals, not data streams, who must ultimately build the connections that in turn create lasting international research partnerships.
The third aim of the Conference Series is to introduce academics to educational premises in locations that are suitable for study abroad programs and which may meet their students' educational needs. IJAS draws its inspiration from the Fulbright Program, an integral part of the United States' foreign educational relations, where face-to-face exchanges have proven to be the single most effective means of engaging international publics while broadening dialogue between academics and institutions.
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| Gottenheim with its characteristic church spire rises out of the trees under Freiburg's and the Black Forest's gaze in the background. |
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Academics who opt for any or all of the cultural programs will be assigned a presentation slot on a different day to assure no conflict of schedule.
We invite abstracts, papers, and proposals in any of the following tracks:
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| Last December's IJAS conference in Gottenheim. |
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Social Sciences and Humanities,
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Business and Economics,
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Teaching and Education, and
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Technology and Science.
The best paper in each of these four tracks will be recognized through an engraved plaque. The reviewers will select the winning papers.
The accepted submissions will be clustered around their common topics and areas of interest. As is typical of multidisciplinary conferences, the final program - released about three weeks before the conference - will mirror the research agendas of the delegates rather than a pre-conceived list of arbitrary topics.
It is up to each delegate how much to submit or publish. Some authors may publish only an abstract in the proceedings. Others may prefer to publish a full-length manuscript in the journal instead.
Delegates may also attend a conference without submitting or publishing any research.
Authors may deliver their work during the conference either as (i) a regular presentation, (ii) a poster session, (iii) a panel, or (iv) a workshop.
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| Welcome Address
Volker Kieber
Bürgermeister
Rathaus Gottenheim
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| Our semi-annual conference is synonymous with the Mayor of Gottenheim who each time welcomes IJAS' conference delegates to what has become the best known multidisciplinary conference in Southwest Germany. What was originally a sleepy, little town on the larger outskirts of Freiburg is emerging as a modern technological base welcoming both industry and academia. An indispensable point on the famous Wine Route, Gottenheim is increasingly serving conference delegates and study abroad students. The town mixes tradition with innovation in showcasing Eucor's drive for international research and education in German, French and Swiss universities in this cross-border region.
For German newspaper coverage of last Autumn's conference, click here and here.
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Why do we need a Christmas conference?
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| A gingerbread house sold at a Christkindlmarkt. |
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American universities increasingly organize course abroad programs during the Christmas vacation and spring break week since many students work during summer. Employers are increasingly willing to take on student-workers for the summer months but not for the short winter or spring break vacations. As a result, the old university model of visiting Europe only in summer is shifting under the new economic realities of hefty tuition bills for which students must work long hours when they can, mostly in summer.
While Europe comes to a standstill during Christmas and Easter, the largest vacation during the year in the USA is Thanksgiving in November. Easter is practically off the American secular calendar as universities have a spring break instead. There is no fixed week for spring break and different universities mark it during different weeks.
American students are surprised by Christmas traditions in Germany and its environs. They have a hard time understanding the Christkindlmarkt (Christmas market) concept where entire open-air markets spring up promoting ancient crafts and trades for the season. The American Christmas is highly commercialized and it is difficult for our students in the United States to fully comprehend why someone would be selling traditional candles and honey in an open-air market in Europe when selling WiFi's and DSi's could be more financially rewarding in their eyes or why commercialism may not mix well with Christmas for a number of Europeans.
At the same time, many course abroad programs, like many academic conferences, proceed as if oblivious to the host environment around them. This is anathematic to IJAS' philosophy. IJAS holds that if the foreign host environment is redundant, then professors should not venture beyond their home campus. Instead of venturing overseas, they should attend video conferences and stay on their own campus instead.
IJAS' programs seek to offer an authentic immersion for international academics to culturally experience the host countries. To the academic who is planning to eventually host a winter course abroad program, we promote the Eucor university region of the Christkindlmarkt. The alternative is the Eucor university region as it authentically looks in the spring (and summer).
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| Gottenheim's vineyards nourish themselves in ancient volcanic soil and water flowing from the Black Forest. |
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| Inside the Walhalla, the hall of fame celebrating German scholars. (Photo by Bill Barber) |
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Throughout history, German professional fraternities were segmented into small geographical groups in the practice of their profession. Logistical constraints and political fragmentation made it difficult to operate under a federal model. As a result, professionals would congregate within the vicinity of their town or city and, over glasses of wine or beer, exchange ideas and notes. Through this spirited exchange of research and thirst for knowledge, state universities flourished. By the late nineteenth century, Germany emerged as the leading country for philosophical and scientific advancements nourished by geographical "building blocks" of research.
When Germans emigrated to the new world, they carried with them the fraternity spirit. However, over the years, in the United States, research and drinking increasingly went down separate ways, one into the realm of the professors and the other into the realm of student fraternities.
After the Second World War, the federal model increasingly took hold in Germany and is now the dominant model. Under it, professional rules of conduct reach out to all corners of the country and even beyond as witnessed by Germany's influence within the European Union.
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What's so German about our Conference?
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Much as it celebrates Eucor's international education, this conference also seeks to take its participants back in time when research was exchanged through written notes and face-to-face communications at local venues. The model is inspired by the notes and artifacts on display at the apothecary museum in the old Heidelberg schloss (which we will visit) that brings out in full view the pharmacists' research experience in southwest Germany, within what is now known as Baden-Württemberg, a state formed by plebiscite in the second half of the twentieth century.
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| Tour of Badischer Winzerkeller, Europe's largest winery, during one of our conferences. (Photo by Tunde Adeleke) |
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The model also draws on the current experience of the Kaiserstuhl and Tuniberg vinicultural industry, where units of farmers cluster together to share their centuries-old know-how and annual harvest of grapes. What evolved into a local co-op decades ago has become the largest winery in Europe, a scientific and industrial feat. The same local forces are now at work in promoting the region's food, hospitality and tourism, and laying out the red carpet for our delegates and their guests for an unforgettable time in Gottenheim and its nearby environs, including France and Switzerland.
Participants at this conference will be asked to communicate their research through presentations around town. It's an informal atmosphere as we go back in time to medieval Germany where chemical-free alcohol flowed from the hands of dirndl- and tracht-clad hosts. To this day, the wines and beers are still chemical-free, by law.
There is a new concept in European tourism where an ancient village is converted into a lodging experience with rooms spread around the village and both tourists and locals share the same space. In Italy this nascent model is known as alberghi diffusi where as someone put it, "The goal is to sustain the residents' way of life instead of trampling it." In the words of one Italian operator, "Many operations erase the local heritage to start anew. We use arte povera (peasant style) furnishings and architectural elements, even if they're a bit beaten up, because it's conserving part of the material culture of the region."(i) In Gottenheim, both the lodging space and conference events are spread around town, all within walking distance.
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Delegates will have the opportunity to experience the residents' way of life. A couple of inns and taverns dot the town's main street, and the vineyards may be seen by walking up to the town's main church, a stone's throw away. Immediately behind the church, the rolling countryside is lined with endless vineyards. The scenery is spectacular with both Freiburg and the Black Forest filling the distant background.
For those who prefer the big-city atmosphere, a 14-minute train ride joins Gottenheim to Freiburg every thirty minutes. Late in the evening, the train runs every hour. Freiburg is a university city where the University of Freiburg is reputed to be largest holder of vineyards in the state.
Famous for its Cathedral that rises majestically above the city, Freiburg is at the cross-roads of Southwest Germany and the adjacent Alsace and Basel regions.
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(i) R. Bramblett (2008), "A Village is Reborn," Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel. July/August. 54-61.
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To submit your abstract for presentation at the Christmas 2010 conference, click here.
To submit for the Spring 2011 conference, click here instead.
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The deadline for submitting abstracts for the Christmas conference is October 18, 2010.
The deadline for paying the registration fee for this conference is October 28, 2010.
The deadline for submitting abstracts for the Spring conference is March 1, 2011.
The deadline for paying the registration fee for this conference is March 10, 2011.
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Within a few days of receiving your online abstract submission, we will notify you of the reviewers' acceptance or rejection, for the conference.
If we inform you that it is an acceptance and you would like to publish your research, follow the model format here and email us your formatted document in Microsoft Word. You may do so up to two weeks after the conference.
Abstracts and summarized articles will be published in the proceedings entitled Conference of the International Journal of Arts and Sciences, in CD-ROM format (ISSN 1943-6114).
Full length manuscripts may be published in the International Journal of Arts and Sciences, also in CD-ROM format (ISSN 1944-6934). The review process for the journal is slower and more demanding in its standards. Although both the proceedings and the journal are refereed, research that meets the refereed standards for the conference may not meet the refereed standards for the journal.
The journal is no longer distributed in hard copy format. It is now in CD-ROM format since this makes it easier to disseminate articles (click for examples). Each registered author will receive a complimentary copy of the CD-ROM in which his/her work appears. The CD-ROMs will be airmailed in January 2011 (for the Christmas conference) and October 2011 (for the Spring conference).
Registered authors who prefer a hard copy of the proceedings or journal may download the entire CD-ROM on their own computer and publish and order a hard copy of it from Lulu.com for their own personal use.
Our articles are increasingly accessed - click here - through Google Scholar. The journal is indexed in both American and European databases. The journal is also included in Cabell's directories of Educational Curriculum & Methods and Educational Psychology and Administration.
There is no page limit on articles. We welcome both short and lengthy submissions. We don't impose a financial penalty on lengthy manuscripts.
Each registered author, irrespective of whether he or she submits a formatted abstract or paper, will receive a Certificate of Participation.
Powerpoint Presentations
At the conference, each presentation room will be equipped with a laptop, a digital projector and a projector screen. The laptop will be set up for Powerpoint presentations. Linux and Mac users are asked to save their presentations in a compatible format. In the evolving world of Microsoft, save down to the 97-2003 format in order to ward off any problems. You may bring with you about 15 hard copies for the attendees.
Questions about your submission and presentation should be emailed to: conference@internationaljournal.org.
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| A street in Freiburg. (Photo by Slack12) |
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Hotels and Guesthouses
Lodging facilities in Germany are impeccably hygienic. There is no need to spend a fortune for a good, clean room.
The daily bus tours will depart from, and return to, Gottenheim and Freiburg. Gottenheim has three guesthouses, Krone, Adler and Obsthof. The bus will depart from in front of Gottenheim's train station which is within short distance of all three guesthouses.
In Freiburg, the bus tours will depart from in front of the Novotel, diagonally across from the main train station. The second closest hotel to this departure point is InterCity Hotel.
For lodging in close vicinity to Gottenheim, we recommend http://www.hotel.de/ which next to the photo of each hotel shows the distance in "km (miles)" from the highway (for those who will be driving a car) and the train station (for those who will be using the train system). Search for lodging facilities in Breisach, Ihringen and Freiburg im Breisgau or Freiburg. Do not confuse with "Freiburg (Elbe)" or "Freibourg"!
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| The Iseles at the 150-year old Krone guesthouse |
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Our favorite lodging locations are Breisach, Gottenheim and Freiburg. The first two are very small towns. Breisach is more scenic. All three are very safe like everywhere else in Southwest Germany. They also constitute critical points on the short train line Freiburg-Gottenheim-Breisach that runs every 30 minutes for most of the day.
Click here for a PDF copy of the Freiburg-Gottenheim-Breisach train schedule. Although it's in German, once you see the two adjacent schedules in grid form with the geographical names at the top (e.g., Freiburg Hbf, Gottenheim, etc.) you'll easily figure out what it all means.
Hostels
For low-priced hostels in Freiburg, click here.
For a low-priced hostel on the banks of the Rhine River, we recommend the Jugendherberge in Breisach.
Gottenheim does not have any hostels.
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The nearest international airport to Gottenheim is Basel's Airport (BSL). Walk out of the airport through the French gate (as opposed to the Swiss gate). From there take the airport bus to Freiburg for about 35 Euros (round-trip). The bus ticket is purchased in cash from the bus driver. The bus journey is under an hour (see timetable). At the Freiburg train station take the 14-minute train to Gottenheim for about 5 Euros. Click here for a PDF copy of the Freiburg-Gottenheim train schedule.
An alternative route is to fly into Frankfurt's Airport (FRA) and board the two-hour ICE train -- Germany's fastest -- from Frankfurt's Airport to Freiburg. At the Freiburg main train station take the 14-minute train to Gottenheim. The round-trip train ticket, from Frankfurt to Gottenheim, may be purchased from the airport, from the "DB" office close to the train station. From the USA, flights into Frankfurt are usually cheaper than flights into Basel.
Two other possibilities are to fly into Stuttgart (STR), Germany, or Strasbourg (SXB), France, and take the train to Gottenheim (via Freiburg).
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Christmas Conference Registration
Nov-Dec 2010:
Registration is open to everyone, not just to research presenters.
For alternative ways of paying the registration fee, click here.
Registration fees do not include food and lodging.
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Spring Conference Registration
April 2011:
All registration fees are in American dollars.
For alternative ways of paying the registration fee, click here.
Registration fees do not include food and lodging.
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$340 - Germany, France & Switzerland Conference Registration:
Valid for all 6 days.
Valid for one person for all conference events, on and off conference premises.
Includes all tours.
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$225 - Germany, France & Switzerland Conference Registration:
Valid for 1 day only.
Valid for one person, for one day only, on conference premises.
Does not include any tours.
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$540 - Germany, France & Switzerland Conference Registration for 2 persons:
Valid for all 6 days
Joint registration for yourself and a co-author, child or guest, valid for all conference events, on and off conference premises. Includes all tours.
This option is not available for two authors with two or more research presentations.
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$105 - How to Organize a Study Abroad Program
A one-credit hour graduate level course with the University of San Diego.
For information and separate registration click here.
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In Case of Questions About...
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your submission or the conference:
| events sponsorship:
| the Proceedings:
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International Journal of Arts & Sciences
Attn: Conferences Department
99 Sleepy Hollow Dr.
Cumberland, RI 02864-3236
USA
E-mail: conference@internationaljournal.org
| Dr. Joseph Bonnici
IJAS Conferences Coordinator
Vance Hall
Central Connecticut State University
1615 Stanley St
New Britain, CT 06050-4010
USA
| To submit your abstract to the reviewers, fill one of the above online forms. No particular format is required at this stage.
AFTER your research has been accepted, use the format here and email your properly formatted abstract or paper as an attachment.
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| Life in Riquewihr, France. |
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| Starehe provides a home and a first-class education for bright boys and girls from impoverished backgrounds - free of charge. It is unique in instilling a firm sense of duty, and in inspiring former pupils to lead exemplary lives across all walks of Kenyan society. |
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