Upcoming Convention
Sheraton Puerto Rico Resort and Casino
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Nov 19-22, 2025
UCEA Community
UCEA25 Convention
We invite you to join us at the 39th Annual UCEA Convention that will be held November 19–22, 2025, at the Sheraton Puerto Rico Resort and Casino in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The 2025 Convention Planning Committee includes Shelby Cosner (University of Georgia), Kaneshia Dorsan (University of Georgia), Osly Flores (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign), Hans Klar (Clemson University), Patricia Virella (Montclair State), and Karl Gildner (UCEA Events Manager).
Convention Theme
UCEA’s 39th Annual Convention theme is “Fostering Leadership Resilience Through Collaboration and Community” or “Fomentando la Resiliencia de Liderazgo a través de Colaboración y Comunidad.” A variety of factors, both internal and external, have shaped our theme, call for proposals, and intentions for this year’s Convention. From an internal perspective, our organization has learned a great deal over the last several years through our equity self-study and from related learning and work groups (e.g., clinical faculty, equity learning). Among other things, we recognize the need to cultivate a more inclusive community within UCEA (broadly and within our Convention)—a community that actively breaks down the kinds of organizational micropolitics that have been experienced by some members of our community based on individual identities (e.g., institution type, discipline, epistemology, research methods, academic roles, race, culture, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation). These sorts of issues have led some individuals to feel on the margins of our organization and/or where they have less access and opportunity within our organization.
Hotel
Sheraton Puerto Rico Resort and Casino
Convention Planning Committee
Shelby Cosner
University of Georgia
Shelby Cosner
University of Georgia
SHELBY COSNER is the Morrill M. Hall Endowed Chair in Educational Administration at the University of Georgia, Mary Frances Early College of Education, the Educational Administration and Policy program. Cosner is an expert on the capacity-building and improvement-oriented work of school leaders, the preparation and development of educational leaders, the continuous improvement and evaluation of preparation/development programs for educational leaders. She examines these issues more generally as well as for a variety of equity-oriented aims. She leads multi- disciplinary teams that design and test (e.g., randomized control trial, cluster randomized trial) learning designs for teachers, teacher leaders, school leaders, and district leaders. She also is an expert in partnerships including university-district partnerships, research practice partnerships, and public private partnerships. She has extensive experience with and passion for cultivating these sorts of partnerships in settings throughout the US and abroad. Working independently and with various colleagues Cosner (PI or Co-PI) has obtained over 16M in external funding from federal organizations to state and national/international foundations (e.g., National Science Foundation/NSF, US Department of Education, The Wallace Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, Jeff Bezos Family Foundation, McCormick Foundation, Lyle Spencer Foundation, Broad Foundation, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Finnegan Family Foundation, Children’s First Foundation, Chicago Public Education Fund, and the Qatar Foundation). Her work appears in a variety of peer-reviewed journals including Educational Administration Quarterly, the Journal of Educational Administration, the Journal of School Leadership, Leadership and Policy in Schools, Urban Education, Education Sciences, Educational Management Administration and Leadership, the Journal of Research on Leadership Education, and Planning and Changing. She is currently working on a book for Harvard Education Press for publication in 2025 that examines the continuous improvement of educational leader preparation programs. Cosner is currently serving in several elected national leadership roles in the US. She is the president-elect for the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) for 2024-2025 and will become the organization’s president in 2025. She is also the Chair for the AERA Special Interest Group, Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership (LTEL).
Kaneshia Dorsan
University of Georgia
Kaneshia Dorsan
University of Georgia
Dr. Kaneshia Dorsan is a clinical assistant professor in the Educational Administration and Policy (EDAP) program at the University of Georgia. She teaches pivotal courses such as Educational Leadership for Instructional Improvement and Change, Leadership in High-Needs School Settings, and Clinical Practices in Educational Leadership, equipping leaders with the knowledge and skills to drive meaningful change in education. Before transitioning into higher education, Dr. Dorsan devoted 19 years of her career to K-12 education, serving as a middle school classroom teacher, assistant principal, instructional coach, and principal. Over the years, she has mentored and supported numerous aspiring leaders, helping them navigate their career paths. Dr. Dorsan’s scholarly interests center on the preparation and development of aspiring and practicing educational leaders. These interests reflect her commitment to advancing equity and excellence in schools, promoting positive outcomes for all students.
Osly Flores
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Osly Flores
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Osly J. Flores is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on two main areas: race-conscious leadership in K-12 schools and the persistence of graduate students of color in navigating higher education. In the first area, he explores three themes: equitable leadership practices, leadership ethics, and the experiences of school leaders of color. In the second area, he uses critical frameworks to highlight the successes and resilience of graduate students of color. His work has been published in various journals, including The Urban Review, Urban Education, Teachers College Record, Journal of College Student Development, AERA Open, and the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
Hans Klar
Clemson University
Hans Klar
Clemson University
Hans W. Klar, PhD, is a professor of educational leadership and the chair of the Department of Educational and Organizational Leadership Development in the College of Education at Clemson University. Dr. Klar’s research is centered on fostering leadership development in rural and high needs schools through research practice partnerships. He is the director of the Leading Educational Administrator Development for Excellent Rural Schools (LEADERS) Center of Excellence. Prior to arriving at Clemson, he served in a variety of teaching and leadership positions in Australia, China, Indonesia, and Japan, including Associate Dean for English Programs at the Sydney Institute of Language and Commerce (SILC) at Shanghai University. While at Clemson, he also served as a visiting scholar at the Universidad Andrés Bello in Santiago, Chile and at the Centre for Principal Development at Umeå University in Umeå, Sweden.
Patricia Virella
Montclair State University
Patricia Virella
Montclair State University
Dr. Patricia M. Virella is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Montclair State University. Dr. Virella studies equity-oriented crisis leadership examining how school leaders can respond to crises without further harming marginalized communities. Her research focuses on implementing equity-oriented leadership through leader responses, organizational transformation, and preparation. She has published in prestigious journals including AERA Open and Educational Management, Administration and Leadership (EMAL). Dr. Virella is the author of three books, including the forthcoming **Crisis as Catalyst: Equity-Oriented School Leadership During Difficult Times** with Harvard Education Press.
Call for Proposals
UCEA Convention Session Types
Session types include paper sessions, practice-based presentations, ignite presentations, roundtables, community building sessions, terrace talks, workshop/development sessions symposia, international community-building sessions, innovative sessions/mini-workshops, and pre-Convention work sessions and workshops. Click here for a complete description of each session type.
Submission Guidelines
Click here for submission guidelines, participation limits, proposal reviewer information, and other details.
Proposal Submission Deadline
Proposals must be received by Wednesday, May 14, 2025. All proposals must be submitted electronically through All Academic by visiting the UCEA website (http://www.ucea.org). This site will officially open March 26, 2025.
Graduate Student Summit
Successfully launched at the 2012 Convention in Denver, the Summit will be returning once again this year for the 2025 Convention. Doctoral students from UCEA member institutions are invited to submit proposals for this pre-Convention event. Further details regarding the Graduate Student Summit call for proposals can be found on the Graduate Student portion of the UCEA website: https://www.ucea.org/gss_summit.php
Proposal Reviews
Coming soon...