Midwinter Conference

AEJMC Midwinter Conference

March 4-6, 2027

For the first time in nearly two decades, AEJMC Midwinter is heading to a new city. In March 2027, the Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University will welcome the Midwinter community to Milwaukee for Freshly Brewed: New City. New Connections. Knowledge Made Together.

Midwinter has long offered something valuable within AEJMC: a place to bring developing research into conversation, receive substantive feedback, meet scholars beyond our usual circles, and leave with work that has changed because of those exchanges. Our 2027 theme builds on that tradition. “Knowledge Made Together” recognizes that scholarship and teaching develop through conversation, critique, experimentation, mentoring, and the chance to share work with people who may approach the same questions differently.

The theme describes the spirit of the conference rather than a required topic. Paper abstracts, panels, and GIFTs do not need to address the conference theme. We welcome work across the full range of journalism and mass communication scholarship and teaching.

And something is brewing in the Cream City. Alongside research sessions and panels, Milwaukee Midwinter will include a conference-wide teaching track, professional development, an international journalism keynote, and more intentional opportunities for attendees to meet and spend time together. After nearly two decades in the same location, we are excited to bring Midwinter to a fresh setting while keeping the close conversation and developing work that have long defined the conference.

The conference will open on Thursday, March 4, with a keynote from an internationally recognized journalist. On Friday, March 5, attendees will gather for a combined lunch, networking, and connection event, with bowling available during the event. We want the Midwinter schedule to leave room for the conversations surrounding the formal program: meeting someone working on a similar question, finding a collaborator, talking through a teaching problem, connecting graduate students with colleagues and mentors, or simply having enough time to get to know one another.

Milwaukee has a long history as a city where things are made. We want Midwinter to carry some of that spirit as well, creating room for research, teaching, ideas, and professional relationships to be made and remade together.

Coming to Milwaukee

Marquette University is located near downtown Milwaukee, approximately 10 miles from Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, making the trip from the airport to campus and conference hotels relatively quick.

Marquette is also a short ride from the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, which provides Amtrak and intercity bus connections. Chicago is approximately 90 miles from Milwaukee, giving attendees additional travel options through Chicago and its airports. For attendees whose spring break begins around Midwinter, Milwaukee can also serve as an easy starting point for extending the trip into Chicago or traveling onward from there.

Conference hotel blocks have already been secured. We have two conference hotels, with room blocks opening the day of conference submissions.

  • The Marc Hotel: $139/night
  • DoubleTree Milwaukee Downtown: $159/night

And we hope attendees will make some time for Milwaukee itself. Midwinter falls during basketball season, with Marquette and the Milwaukee Bucks bringing plenty of energy downtown. Restaurants, breweries, the Milwaukee Public Market, the Historic Third Ward, Deer District, arts and cultural venues, and other gathering spaces offer plenty of options for Friday and Saturday evening.

Marquette also has a long connection to AEJMC. The university was a founding institutional member of the American Association of Teachers of Journalism, the organization that would eventually become AEJMC. Hosting Midwinter gives us the chance to welcome the association back to Milwaukee while beginning a new chapter for the conference.

Additional information about submissions, registration, hotel accommodations, transportation, conference programming, and Milwaukee will be posted through the conference website (coming soon) and AEJMC Community site as it becomes available.

For questions about the 2027 AEJMC Midwinter Conference, contact:
Patrick R. Johnson, Ph.D.
Conference Chair
Diederich College of Communication, Marquette University
Patrick.johnson@marquette.edu

Bring your work. Share what you know. Meet your people. Make something better together in Milwaukee.

Call for Paper Abstracts, Panel Proposals & GIFTs

Mass Communication and Society Division


Paper Abstract Submissions

The Mass Communication and Society Division seeks research paper submissions from both faculty and students for the AEJMC Midwinter conference. Submissions to the Mass Communication and Society Division can be on any topic that advances mass communication theory, especially at the societal or macrosocial level. The Division accepts research submissions from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives as well as research that draws heavily from other disciplines, including sociology, psychology, anthropology, law and history. Papers must not be under consideration elsewhere for presentation or publication.

Authors are invited to submit research paper abstracts of 600–800 words. Abstracts should give reviewers a clear sense of the project and should address, as appropriate:

  • relevant literature, concepts, or theoretical framework;
  • research questions, objectives, or argument;
  • methodological approach;
  • the current stage of the project, including conceptual development, data collection, analysis, or completed research;
  • preliminary or completed findings when available; and
  • the contribution the project seeks to make.

Authors must remove identifying information from the submitted abstract. Midwinter welcomes research at different stages of development. Projects do not need to be completed at the time of abstract submission. Authors are encouraged to use the conference as a place to test ideas, receive meaningful feedback, develop works in progress, and strengthen research for future publication or submission to the AEJMC annual conference.

All paper abstract submissions will be completed through the AEJMC Community site. Authors will select either a participating DIG or the Open Paper Competition when submitting. A specific paper abstract may be submitted to only one competition. Authors may not submit the same abstract to multiple DIGs or to both a DIG and the Open Paper Competition. Duplicate submissions will be withdrawn from the review process.

Submission deadline: December 15, at 11:59 p.m. (CST). Submission will be made through the AEJMC Community site.

Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified in early January. Research presented at Midwinter remains eligible for presentation at the AEJMC annual conference. Authors whose abstracts are accepted are encouraged to submit a complete paper of no more than 30 pages to the discussant for their conference session at least two weeks before Midwinter. The appropriate Midwinter research chair will provide authors with the name and contact information of the session discussant.

At least one author of each accepted paper must register for and attend the conference to present the research. Conference registration will be completed through the AEJMC Community site. Papers without a registered presenting author by the registration deadline will be removed from the program. No on-site registration will be available.

Panel Proposals

The Mass Communication and Society Division also welcomes panel proposals, which will be submitted directly to the MCSD Midwinter chair rather than through the paper abstract competition. Panel proposals should not exceed two double-spaced pages. Panel proposals should include:

  • the panel title;
  • a description of the session’s focus and the issues or questions to be discussed;
  • the names and affiliations of confirmed and prospective panelists; and
  • indicate how the session fits the interests of MCSD or contributes to the broader Midwinter conversation.

Submission deadline: December 15, at 11:59 p.m. (CST). Submission will be made by emailing the proposal to the MCSD Midwinter Committee Chair. 

GIFTs: Teaching in Action

Midwinter will also feature a conference-wide GIFTs program focused on practical teaching ideas that can move JMC classrooms forward. Rather than separate GIFT competitions sponsored by individual DIGs, the Midwinter conference will bring instructors from across JMC together in a shared teaching space. Selected presenters will demonstrate an idea, activity, assignment, project, online module, or teaching approach that other educators can understand, adapt, and use. The goal is simple: show us something you do with students that helps them learn.

Submissions might feature a classroom activity that changed how students understood a difficult idea, an assignment redesigned around new technology or professional practice, a hands-on exercise that gets students producing or making decisions, an online learning activity that actually works, or another teaching approach that colleagues could adapt for their own courses. GIFT submissions are open to faculty of all academic ranks and graduate student instructors across journalism and mass communication. GIFTs should briefly explain:

  • what students are learning;
  • what the instructor does;
  • what students actually do;
  • how the activity or approach improves student learning; and
  • what another instructor would need to adapt it for a different course or setting.

Selected GIFTs will be presented as part of the conference teaching track, with an emphasis on seeing teaching in action rather than simply hearing someone describe it.

GIFT submission deadline: December 15, at 11:59 p.m. (CST). GIFTs will be submitted through the AEJMC Community site.

For questions related to MCSD submissions, contact our Midwinter Committee. Click here for officer's contact information.