2005 Lilly Conference Newsletter
November, 2005
To: Registrants of the 25th Annual Lilly Conference on College Teaching
From: Milt Cox, Lilly Conference Director
I am pleased to welcome you to the Lilly Conference on College Teaching. There are several items I will share with you as you make preparations to attend.
Conference Schedule and Welcome
The proposal submission due date was July 1, 2005. We are no longer accepting proposals. The complete conference schedule is posted on the conference website.
Preconference Workshops
If you have registered but did not choose a preconference workshop and you wish to attend, please call (513) 529-9266 to update your choice and use your credit card to cover the cost of lunch and the presenter's book.
If you would like to arrive early and reserve lodging and meals for Wednesday or Thursday, please make that known at the time of your call and use your credit card to cover the additional cost of Wednesday and/or Thursday meals and lodging.
Weather and Dress
Bring comfortable clothes. You will find that attire at the conference varies from casual to dressy. (See the slideshow on our homepage) Your dress for outside should anticipate variation in November weather. It may be Indian summer, with temperatures from 50°F to 70°F, or chilly fall, 20°F to 45°F. Some sessions are not in the Marcum Center, so bring an umbrella in case you have to walk in the rain. The farthest you might need to walk to a session is one to four blocks.
Contributed Paper Conference Proceedings
The titles, abstracts, and proposals for contributed papers are available online. Please look these over before the conference to determine which sessions you would like to attend. They will also be available online in room 102 of the Conference Center when presentations are not in session there. These papers will be part of the conference proceedings.
Registration and Program Book
When you register for the conference at the Marcum Center, you will receive a nametag, program book, map, meal tickets (if you reserved some), and a "TV guide" version of the program agenda. The program book includes a detailed program agenda, abstracts of the sessions, theme tracks, a list of conference participants and their e-mail addresses, a list of participating institutions, and more.
Lodging for Conference Package Plan #1
If you reserved the Conference Package Plan #1, when you check in at the front desk of your hotel (Marcum Center, Miami Inn, Hampton Inn, Best Western, Amerihost), your name should be on their list. We have prepaid your room as part of your complete conference package. When you check out, pay for your personal incidental costs such as long-distance calls. Those arriving by plane in Cincinnati and reserving our shuttle transportation have been assigned lodging in the Marcum Center or the Miami Inn. We regret that we may not have been able to give you your top lodging choices.
Look online at our directions to Miami University and a map of the Oxford area to locate routes for your hotel. For the Best Western take U.S. 27 (High Street) to the center of Oxford (4th stoplight, corner of High and Main, if coming from the Marcum Center). Turn north on state route 732. At the first (and only) stoplight you will see the Best Western Inn on the right.
For the Hampton Inn and Amerihost, continue on High Street past Main and follow the US 27 signs. The Hampton Inn is on your right, after the last stoplight as you follow US 27 northwest to the edge of town. The Amerihost is about another .25 more miles on US 27.
Food and Drink
If you reserved Conference Package Plan #1 or any meals as part of Plan #2, you will receive your meal tickets when you register at the Marcum Center. If you have ordered a vegan or low-fat diet, your nametag will alert the servers to bring you your special meal. Since the food will have been ordered and prepared, you cannot change your preference at the conference. To be served you must have a ticket and wear your nametag.
For those of you not having meals at the Marcum Center, there are plenty of eating places nearby in uptown Oxford (8 to 9 blocks from Marcum). The menu varies from fast food to intermediately-priced places like The High Street Grill (our favorite), Qdoba's (Mexican), or Phan-Shin (Chinese). An excellent restaurant in town is The Alexander House (523-1200). On campus there is a food court at Miami's Shriver Center (4 blocks away). The front desk at Marcum or your lodging unit should have an Oxford Visitors' Guide with the locations of the restaurants. Also, several local pizza and sandwich places will deliver to your lodging unit; the front desk may have menus and may recommend where to order.
Although the fare at the receptions includes wine and beer, there is no bar in the Marcum Center. However, there are some bars uptown within walking distance, and the bar in the Tavern of the Miami Inn will be open for limited hours.
Presenter Discussion Tables
If you have made meal reservations at Marcum and would like to join one of the presenters at a special presenter's round table, please check the Friday luncheon, dinner, and Saturday luncheon tables that are listed in the conference schedule on the website. Space at the presenters' round tables is limited. Tables are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. We recommend that you sign-up when you check in upon arrival at the conference. Ask at the registration desk for availability.
No Smoking Policy
The following no-smoking policy, mandated by the State of Ohio, is in place at the Marcum Conference Center and the Miami Inn: No smoking is permitted in any conference rooms, hallways, the Tavern, or the club room; smoking is permitted in some guest lodging rooms.
Driving and Parking
For those of you driving to the conference, see the map of the Oxford area and a campus map on the website. Marcum is in the northeast quadrant of the campus map, and the Miami Inn is in the northwest quadrant. Although in different quadrants, the distance between the Inn and the Marcum Center is just one block. Parking is free behind the Marcum Center and beside the Miami Inn. If the lot behind the Marcum Center is full, park to the south of the Marcum Center. You will need a parking permit, which you can obtain when you register.
Some Friday morning sessions will be in the Shriver Center, located four blocks from the Marcum Center. Registration is in Marcum, so if you are arriving Friday morning, give yourself 15 extra minutes to walk comfortably from Marcum to Shriver. Parking around Shriver is difficult, so park at Marcum or the Inn. When you enter the Shriver lobby, follow the signs to the room for the session you have selected.
Airport Shuttle
If you are flying to the Cincinnati Airport for the Lilly Conference and have reserved shuttle transportation with us, after your flight arrives a shuttle representative from Executive Transportation with a "Lilly Conference @ Miami University" sign, will meet you on the curb outside the baggage claim area and bring you to your hotel. Due to security restrictions the shuttle driver will not be able to park, but will continue to circle the airport. If you have difficulty finding your shuttle driver or if your arrival is delayed, please call the Marcum Center, (513) 529-6911.
Your departure time from the Marcum Center or the Miami Inn will be posted in the lobby of the Marcum Center on Saturday
Executive Transportation's phone number: (859) 261-8841
Marcum Conference Center's Front Desk phone number: (513) 529-6911
Get to Sessions Early
We expect a large group this year and cannot accept on-site registrations. We recommend that you arrive at sessions early to get seats. The multimedia and technology sessions in room 102 will have limited seating and hands-on opportunities, so get to them especially early. For the concurrent sessions, select more than one to attend — if your first choice is full, move to your second choice, etc. It is difficult to predict which sessions will be in demand, and room sizes vary.
Contributed Paper Sessions: Just an Overview
There are several types of sessions, varying in length from 40 minutes to over 2 hours. The 40-minute contributed paper seminars are designed to give you just a flavor of a topic or project, not complete details or in-depth discussion. If interested in learning more, you are encouraged to arrange with the presenter to continue discussion later. More information about each contributed paper is at the online Contributed Papers section.
Cyber Center
Although you can go online at the Marcum Conference Center, there are no facilities for making computer printouts. To check your e-mail and to send encouragement to your students, you may use one of the stations in Marcum 102 when there are no conference sessions going on there.
Printing and Copying
If you need multiple copies of handouts for a presentation, the closest copying facility is The Oxford Copy Shop in uptown Oxford. If you would like to ship handout copies for presentations, PLEASE ship them one week in advance to Lilly Conference Presentation, (presenter's name), Marcum Center, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056. Please call (513-529-6911) on Wednesday, November 17, to confirm their arrival.
A Quiet Moment
If you would like a quiet moment to relax or read and you are not lodging at Marcum, you are welcome to use the East Wing Lounge (on the second floor of Marcum) or the Tavern at the Miami Inn when they are not in session — See the TV guide version of the program agenda.
Wednesday Night Dinner and Entertainment
If you are arriving Wednesday in time for dinner and would like to join a group to go uptown, meet at the Marcum registration desk at 6:30pm and we will drive up together.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday Night Activities
We invite you to join us at the Thursday evening party in the Miami Inn Tavern. There will be live music and tables at which to join conference attendees to discuss teaching and learning. In addition to usual fare, the Tavern features an interesting collection of local microbrews and a variety of Scotch single malt whiskeys. We will also feature Linc's famous "smoyked ohsters."
After Friday night's plenary, come to hear the Klezmer band and join the folk dancers. This will also be another opportunity to meet new colleagues. Refreshments are on us.
Several optional Saturday night activities are listed in the program. There is free entertainment at the Marcum Center, starting with a special Conference Concert performance by outstanding Miami faculty and students. Afterwards, Cincinnati's excellent Cajun band, Robin Lacy and DeZydeco, will provide background and dancing music. We will have soft drinks and refreshments (on Lilly), so it will be an opportunity again to meet and talk with conference participants and celebrate the energy and diversity that are connected with teaching and learning.
Questions?
If you have any questions, please call (513) 529-9266 or e-mail us at lillycon@muohio.edu. Have a safe journey, and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Celebrate Teaching and Learning!
I applaud your interest in excellent teaching and learning and hope that at the Lilly Conference you find inspiration, innovation, reflection, colleagueship, and celebration around teaching and learning! Come as a team and take the energy back to your classes and campus.