Approximate Dates and Deadlines:
Mid-Fall: Members who wish to volunteer as reviewers complete a Reviewer Information Form online (look for announcements in the AHEAD Communities).
Early November: First round of proposals submitted to AHEAD and distributed to reviewers.
Early January: Conference reviewers return reviews to AHEAD.
February: final conference decisions are made
Mid-March: the program in finalized and conference registration opened.
Review Process:
- Reviewers are asked to review up to 10 proposals.
- Each proposal will be sent to at least three reviewers.
- It should take approximately 15-20 minutes to read, consider, and complete the online feedback form for each proposal.
- The proposals sent to reviewers will be anonymous—reviewers will not know whose proposal they are reviewing.
Review Criteria:
Reviewers will rate each proposal using an online form provided by AHEAD. Most feedback is provided through a 5-point Likert scale using the following criteria:
- RELEVANCE: This proposal offers essential, high impact information, addresses current issues, and/or builds on concepts that are important for AHEAD members. The ideas conveyed through the proposal are important to enhancing equity in higher education.
- INNOVATION: This proposal offers creative, cutting-edge, innovative, or provocative ideas and/or a novel approach to a common issue. After attending this session, participants would have new inspiration, motivation, and tools to take back to their institutions.
- VALUES: The concepts presented in the proposal are consistent with AHEAD's values of diversity, equity, social justice, individual respect, and inclusivity.
- DIVERSITY: The proposed session enhances the diversity of perspectives offered at the conference by including content featuring or focused on typically underrepresented groups of people or institution types (e.g., traditionally marginalized people—LGBTQ, people of color, indigenous people—or institutions such as community colleges, HBCs, or small private colleges).
- ENGAGEMENT: The proposal provides evidence of an opportunity for participants to learn actively and/or engage with the material through participatory activities, discussion, or a question/answer period.
- PRESENTATION: The proposal is clear, concise, well-organized, and grammatically sound. The authors have demonstrated attention and care in the development of this proposal. References are included, if necessary/important to the topic.
After assigning 5-point scores, reviewers will be asked to comment on the proposal and to recommend or not recommend its acceptance.