The School of Education & Human Sciences at the University of Kansas will host the 2026 Research & Teaching Festival as a professional development event. The conference will be held on February 27 from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. CT in Joseph R. Pearson Hall (JRP) room 150, with the option to attend in person or virtually. Sessions will focus on a wide variety of topics in the field of education & human sciences. Speakers will be given five minutes each to present on their topic, followed by five minutes for audience questions.

The hybrid event is free and open to the public. Individuals interested in attending in person or virtually are encouraged to RSVP now and mark their calendars. Registrants will receive Zoom login information via email before the event.

Schedule

12:10-12:15: Lisa Wolf-Wendel: Introduction

12:15-12:25: Alison Zagona: Bridging Disciplines: Interdisciplinary Collaboration Between Educators and Speech-Language Pathology Students

12:25-12:35: Anna Yonas: Growth after graduation: A systematic review of professional development for novice social studies teachers

12:35-12:45: Lena Batt: District Decision Making Under Resource Constraints: An Examination of Special Education Resource Decisions Across Kansas

12:45-12:55: Brian Gordon: Brand Retroness

12:55-1:05: Dana Lattin: Expand TPE (Julia Isabell, Arijana York, Brendy Latare & William Faye)

1:05-1:15: Lisa Didion: The Power of Practice: Merging Simulation, Data, and Human Insight

1:15-1:25: Sarah Collins: Charting the AI Policy Landscape Across America’s Top Universities

1:25-1:35: Amanda Mollet: Expansive Intimacies

1:35-1:40: BREAK

1:40-1:50: Bryan Mann: Educational challenges near the Paraguayan-Brazilian border: What happens in a place where political and cultural boundaries are misaligned

1:50-2:00: Haiying Long: Understanding school needs for teacher creativity training

2:10-2:20: Ken Murfay: An examination of bouncy bands in an elementary school classroom

2:20-2:30: Lei Jiang: Navigating Worlds: Multilingual Learners’ Journeys to Four-Year Universities

2:30-2:40: Imogen Herrick and Doug Huffman: Elevating Elementary Science with a Midwest STEM Alliance

2:40-2:50: Stephen Jackson: Whose civilization is it, anyway

2:50-3:00: Wen-hao Winston Chou: When and How Should I Stop AI from Replacing My Students?

If you have questions, please reach out to Icelda Beltran.