2026 Call for Proposals FAHE Conference
FRIENDS ASSOCIATION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
2026 Gathering: June 8-11, 2026
William Penn University, Oskaloosa, Iowa
The conference theme will be “A Quaker Pedagogy” and the plenary speakers will be:
- MaryKate Morse (professor at Portland Seminary of George Fox University),
- Robert Wafula (Principal of Friends Theological College in Kaimosi, Kenya), and
- Philip Clayton (Ingraham Professor, Claremont School of Theology)
A Quaker Pedagogy
In confronting a priest who was charging a great fee to teach the scriptures, George Fox proclaimed to the priest’s flock that the inward teachings of God are freely given, “…and I directed them from the darkness to the Light, and to the grace of God, that would teach them, and bring them salvation; to the Spirit of God in their inward parts, which would be a free teacher unto them.” (George Fox, The Journal of George Fox, Chapter 5, page 137)
One of the exemplars of Quaker collegiate education was D. Elton Trueblood, a 1922 graduate of William Penn University, who later taught at Haverford College, Guilford College (where he also coached track), and Earlham College, and also was instrumental in the founding of the Earlham School of Religion. (He also served at Harvard and Stanford Universities as professor and chaplain.) A master teacher, Trueblood was a prolific and inspirational writer. As he reflected upon his career as an educator, in his collection of essays entitled The Teacher: The Model and Message of a Master Teacher published in 1980, he wrote:
“Very early in my life I began to realize that ideas were my chief capital. In my teaching vocation I saw that thoughts are supremely precious – and because they are precious, they must be both preserved and shared” (p. 8).
“The price of sound teaching is high, for it comes only by constant discipline and by unending labor. … However arduous and demanding the role of the teacher may be, it includes many pleasures, chief among them being the joy of observing the development of other minds, as the potential becomes actual” (p. 11).
This year’s conference invites presenters from across the academic disciplines to consider whether there is a uniquely Quaker approach to higher education that offers value to the wider body of academia. Under this umbrella, presenters are encouraged to share the research and work they do with students that undergirds this sense of a uniquely Quaker approach to the instruction within higher education. Any presentations related to the theme of A Quaker Pedagogy are encouraged, as are presentations that could be developed into essays for inclusion in the latest volume in the FAHE Quakers and the Disciplines series on Quakers and Higher Education.
To guide the development of proposals, the following set of Queries is provided:
Queries
- What is unique about a Quaker approach to education, and are there examples from the history of Quakers and education in general that might well inform best practices in the present and the future?
- How does being at a Quaker college or university, or teaching elsewhere as a Quaker, infuse your instruction and shape your interaction with other educators?
- In the U.S., the federal and some state governments have recently started restricting what can and cannot be taught in some colleges and universities. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has expressed concern about these attacks on academic freedom. What is an appropriate and effective Quakerly response to such attacks?
- What do our lived testimonies underlying Quaker pedagogy have to offer to the wider world of higher education, and what makes a Quaker pedagogy of value to others?
- There has been a push for institutions of higher education to incorporate AI into instruction in various ways, but many professors have grave concerns about this, arguing that AI use undermines the educational goals of higher education. What is an appropriate Quakerly response to the use of AI in education?
- In what ways does a Quaker vision of education speak to and shape the whole person?
Proposals on other subjects are also welcome, and proposals targeted for consideration to be included in Quakers and the Sciences—anticipated as Vol. 9 in the Quakers and the Disciplines series—are especially welcome.
Please submit proposals to Randall.Nichols@wmpenn.edu by April 15, 2026, although proposals submitted after this date may be considered, space permitting.
Friends Association for Higher Education 