Whether this is your first time at the conference or if you are a seasoned veteran, we are providing you with some information about the upcoming conference.
Did you know?
1) Prior to 1990, AAAL met jointly with the Linguistic Society of America (LSA). The first joint conference took place in Boston, Massachusetts in December 1978.
2) This year, AAAL's location will be at the Sheraton Atlanta (Address: 165 Courtland Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30303-1721). The conference will take place from March 9-12, 2019. The future locations will be in Denver, Colorado from March 28-31, 2020 and Houston, Texas March 20-23, 2021.
3) AAAL coordinated schedules again this year with TESOL. TESOL follows the AAAL conference and will be held in Atlanta on March 12-15, 2018.
4) Embracing diversity of the field, this year’s conference does not have a theme.
5) There will be two AAAL conference orientation sessions for newcomers on March 8th at 5:30 pm and on March 9th at 10 am. Stay tuned for more information regarding the event location.
6) In addition, there are numerous opportunities for graduate students, such as the meet-and-greet, the Graduate Student Lunch Event, and the Graduate Student Dinner.
Meet-and-greet, Sheraton Atlanta hotel pool-side on Friday, March 8th from 8-10 pm
Are you a graduate student new to AAAL? A seasoned AAAL attendee who is interested in becoming more involved in graduate student leadership? Or are you looking to meet students at other institutions? Please join us for our ‘meet and greet’ event to kick off the AAAL conference. This is a great opportunity to network with other graduate students, share academic experiences, and get to know your future colleagues. At the event, you will also meet the Graduate Student Council Steering Committee members and learn more about graduate student events and opportunities to get more involved in AAAL. Stay tuned for more information regarding this event!
Graduate Student Lunch Event (Location TBD) on Saturday, March 9th, 12-15 pm
This year’s event, Utilizing Your Networks For Publishing and Job Hunting, is designed to inspire and inform graduate students at all stages of master’s and doctoral studies to take advantage of their existing networks and expand them to develop job and publication opportunities. A panel of early career applied linguists will discuss how utilizing their networks has benefited their careers, for instance, in authoring special editions of journals or books, and what they wish they had known about networking. After an introduction from each panelist, the floor will be opened for questions. Topics may include tips on how to approach a professor to publish together or collaborate on research; how to network at conferences; and how to build professional relationships before, while, and after being on the job market.
Graduate Student Dinner, Monday, March 11th, 6:45 - 9 pm
This year’s Graduate Student Dinner, Making a Successful Transition: Preparing a Winning Professional Portfolio, is targeted to graduate students of all stages as well as recent graduates who are preparing for the job market. In this workshop, a panel of early-career professionals working in languages and linguistics will share their experiences and tips on how to begin preparing for the job market at any stage of graduate school to help them be competitive for their ideal positions. During this workshop, participants need to have access to their CV, and other relevant job search materials (optional), in order to work on the documents on-site. Panelists will work hands-on with participants to build more effective CVs, discussing other professional job documents along the way. Participants will receive tips on how a graduate student can build a winning profile to get the position of their chosen career path.
7) There will be two types of mentoring opportunities at the conference. You can find out more information about the networking opportunities and sign up for Conference Connections here.
*All information provided was obtained from www.aaal.org
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