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The 39^th OBTC

Teaching Conference for Management Educators

June 20-23, 2012 – Brock University

https://obtc.org

Conference Theme

Sustainability: 

Sustaining Ourselves, Students, Community, and Global World

When we speak of sustainability, we often think of "green" or the environment these days, but truthfully, sustainability is all around us and impacts us daily at multiple levels, so much so that we often are not mindful of it when we act.   If innovation fuels our fire, then sustainability ensures that fire continues to burn.  How often do we engage in a new venture only to find that it is short-lived and its full potential is not achievable? In times of economic downturns and turbulence, we need to ask ourselves at what cost do we try to maintain our way of life?  We as educators need to continuously ask ourselves how is it possible to sustain our passion for learning and teaching when a new idea can get old pretty quickly?  How can we sustain our enthusiasm for teaching when we are bombarded with potential constraints or obstacles?  Often the concept of sustainability goes unrecognized and untapped, due to our own oversight or lack of deep thinking.  In this conference, we encourage participants to engage in an ongoing dialogue that has the potential to allow each of us to exchange new ideas, approaches, awareness, and practices to enhance our lives and our work.

A few of the possible areas we might explore are:

·         How can we sustain our passion for teaching, given external constraints and obstacles?

·         How can we sustain our enthusiasm for helping our students, given their changing needs and our changing demographics?

·         How can we sustain our educational pedagogue (e.g., active learning, experiential learning) when alternative educational models (e.g., distance learning) move away from traditional classroom learning?

·         As we find ourselves at different career stages, what do we need to do and who do we need to be as professionals to sustain us in our engagement?

·         How can we effectively sustain our learning relationships in communities, given our diversity?

·         What can we do to ensure our continued interaction of our local communities to enhance our students' learning, when their existence might be threatened?

·         How can we help students to sustain their passion for learning beyond our classroom?

·         How can we ensure that we can sustain our global connectedness and collaboration when potential human conflicts increase uncertainties?

·         How can we sustain quality of our educational programs or institutions given potential budget reductions during our economic downturns?

These are only a few thoughts to stimulate sessions, but feel free to be creative and thoughtful about ways in which we can be open to areas yet unexplored by this conference or our field.

In alignment with the culture of the OBTC, we aspire to create a sense of ongoing community and caring as we share our best with each other, not only at the conference, but throughout the year as we stay in touch and depend on each other for support, advice, and friendship.

Conference Site

Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada and the Faculties of Applied Health Sciences and Business are pleased to host the 2012 Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference (OBTC) June, 2012. We recognize the importance of superior conference facilities for OBTS members and are committed to providing quality accommodations, food services, and event logistics for all OBTC delegates. In addition, we are excited to showcase Brock's programs and facilities to a national and international audience of management educators.

Brock University is well equipped, ready, and eager to host OBTC in June 2012. With over 17,000 full-time students and nearly 600 faculty, we're small enough to be intimate, big enough to be world-class and in demand among international students. In addition, Brock University is known for its commitment to teaching and learning from both sides of the brain! Our campus and conference facilities are numerous, enabling all conference activities and accommodations to be located on site. In addition, Brock University is located in the Niagara Region, which is a premier tourism destination in Canada with an abundance of exciting attractions to ensure an enjoyable visit. The region has established a long history of meeting tourist and conference delegates' needs. Our university is 1.5 hours from the Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Ontario and one hour (and a border crossing) away from the Buffalo International Airport. We're easy to get to and worth the travel for the 2012 OBTC.

For OBTC 2012, our intention is to develop a quality conference for all delegates and to share with them Niagara's cultural, environmental, recreational, and social gems including Niagara Falls and of course, our numerous award winning wineries! We will also endeavor to protect the natural environment during the hosting of OBTC 2012. Brock is located in a park-like setting atop the Niagara Escarpment and is the only Canadian university that is part of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. As such, we will take every effort to ensure the natural environment is safeguarded for sustained use by the next generation. Every attempt to "green" OBTC 2012 and minimize waste and material use (i.e., use either reusable or biodegradable materials) will be implemented. Put OBTC at Brock University in your calendar for June 20-23, 2012!

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