Participating in regional conferences and events is a great way to connect with other members of Sigma Tau Delta, make new professional contacts, expand your knowledge, and gain valuable experience presenting papers.
If your chapter is contemplating hosting a regional event, your first step should be to contact your Regent for information about promotional, and possible financial, assistance.
Note: In order not to conflict with Sigma Tau Delta’s annual spring convention, regional events should only be planned for the fall.
Upcoming Regional Event Posts
As a service to its members, Sigma Tau Delta provides links to regional conferences and other non-Society-sponsored English events. Regional events will be posted on this page as they are scheduled.
If you wish to have a link to your conference or event on this web page, please complete the Event Posting Request Form.
Virtual Book Club: How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water
Sponsored by the Midwestern Region of Sigma Tau Delta
Date:
Thursday, October 1, 2026
Location:
Teams Meeting
Purpose:
Join Sigma Tau Delta Midwestern Membership Intern GiGi Shallenberger and Midwestern Regent Dr. Amy Gates for a discussion of Angie Cruz’s How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water, the Common Reader for 2026-2027. Everyone is welcome!
We will meet virtually at 4:00 pm CT. Use the link https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/234376026356966?p=htK8VcwGqzxJUF28U0.
Email Questions to:
Amy Gates at gates-a@mssu.edu.
Rachel Carson Conference, Water the Roots: Community, Language, Creation, Growth
Sponsored by the Alpha Delta Lambda Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta at Chatham University
Date:
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Location:
Chatham University, PIttsburgh, PA, Shadyside Campus
Purpose:
The 2026 Rachel Carson Academic and Creative Writing Conference—hosted at Chatham University by Alpha Delta Lambda—is seeking papers uncovering the nuanced themes of community, language, creation, and growth.
Time and Place: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. EST, Saturday, October 17, 2026
Mellon Center, Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PA
“This soil community, then, consists of a web of interwoven lives, each in some way related to the others-the living creatures depending on the soil, but the soil in turn a vital element of the earth only so long as this community within it flourishes”
—Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, 1962
- The roots of community and what ties us together
- Lingual roots and language as storytelling
- Growing with each other and from shared pasts
- Creating common ground and space to thrive
- What persists, what lingers, and what is left behind?
Our shared natural world is responsible for creating and sustaining magnificent systems of life. Every action, interaction, and individual is part of a web of interdependence. Forests build on each other, just as knowledge is built. Root systems harbor memory, just as our communities do. How might human forms of connection mirror that of the natural world it is so often deemed separate from? How do we create systems of life through storytelling, language, and reciprocity?
Topics might include: media concerning our current sociopolitical, economic, or environmental reality in relation to these themes; community and language across class, race, age, and gender; how shared history is remembered, taught, and learned; feminist theory, ecocritical theory, or other relevant critical frameworks; how meaning, culture, and community are created; and/or any
other creative or critical work resonant with these ideas.
Submission Eligibility:
Open to all, regardless of institutional affiliation.
Submission Requirements:
Email abstracts of 500 words or less in the form of a Word Doc or PDF to sigmataudelta@chatham.edu by 5:00 p.m. September 29, 2026. Open to all, regardless of institutional affiliation.
Types of Submissions Accepted:
Critical and creative writing works that speak to the conference theme.
Submission Deadline:
September 29, 2026, at 5 p.m.
Email Questions to:
Rachel Carson Conference Committee at sigmataudelta@chatham.edu.
Sigma Tau Delta High Plains Regional Conference
Sponsored by the Sigma Beta Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, Chadron State College
Date:
Friday, October 23 – Saturday, October 24, 2026
Location:
Virtual Event
Purpose:
The Chadron State College chapter of Sigma Tau Delta will hold a virtual undergraduate and graduate research conference for the High Plains Region and our neighbors from other regions.
We invite all students, as well as current and alumni members of Sigma Tau Delta, to submit critical papers or creative works for presentation and discussion. Attendance is open to all. This event is an opportunity to practice public speaking skills, networking within a region, and grow professionally. This is an academic conference that gives students a chance to read and get feedback on current writing projects that have potential for the English Honor Societies convention.
A Guest Speaker conversation and Q&A with Rachel McKinley will take place on Friday, October 23, in the evening. Rachel McKinley is a writer and educator living in Northwest Nebraska. She is an assistant professor at Chadron State College, where she teaches courses in composition, creative writing, and English education. Her essays have appeared in Herstry, Cirque, Fourth River, and elsewhere. An open mic will immediately follow. We will also have a session to generate roundtable submissions for the 2027 Convention in March.
Submission Eligibility:
Submissions for presentations are open to any undergraduate or graduate student, as well as current Sigma Tau Delta members and alumni members of Sigma Tau Delta.
Submission Requirements:
Presenters will first submit an abstract based on a paper they plan to present. Final submissions should not exceed 2,000 words in length, and presentations should be 8 – 15 minutes (as per the English Honor Societies convention guidelines). Critical presentations are welcome in any period or genre of literature, popular culture, media, film, rhetoric/composition studies, or pedagogy.
Types of Submissions Accepted:
Presentations may be based on either a critical essay or creative work in any genre.
Submission Deadline:
October 5, 2026
Email Questions to:
Mary Clai Waters at mwaters@csc.edu.
Registration Information:
Register to Attend
Sigma Tau Delta Southern Regional Conference
Sponsored by the Alpha Upsilon Phi Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta
Date:
Saturday, October 24, 2026
Location:
Virtual Event
Registration Cost:
Free
Purpose:
The Alpha Upsilon Phi Chapter at the University of North Georgia, Gainesville is proud to host this free, virtual event on October 24, 2026. We welcome undergraduate and graduate presentations in literary studies and creative writing. Individual presentations will be grouped in panels with 2-3 other presenters based on genre, topic, time period, etc. All presenters will read their work synchronously over Zoom and participate in follow-up discussions at the end of each panel. Presentations should be between 8 and 15 minutes. In keeping with the requirements for the English Honor Societies Convention, papers should be limited to 2,000 words. Among other things, we hope this event provides new presenters an opportunity to practice their presentation skills and receive feedback on their work in advance of the English Honor Societies Convention deadline at the end of October.
Submission Eligibility:
Participants need not be members of Sigma Tau Delta to present but should be currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program.
Submission Requirements:
Complete the Google Form to apply.
Presenters are asked to submit the following:
- paper title
- an abstract of no more than 200 words
- relevant keywords
- personal details including name, campus email address, university
Authors of creative works, please aim to fill the 8-15 minute individual presentation block. Whether that means reading multiple related pieces from a collection or a single longer work (fewer than 2,000 words), either is suitable.
This event is intended as a practice session for those hoping to attend the English Honor Societies convention in Milwaukee, so papers should be limited to 2,000 words. Presentation times should be 8-15 minutes.
Types of Submissions Accepted:
Critical & creative writing
Submission Deadline:
Abstracts: Sunday, September 26, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
Email Questions to:
Leigh G. Dillard at UNGsigmataudelta@gmail.com with the subject line “Southern Regional Conference.”
Additional Information:
All authors will be notified of acceptance after completion of the review process and will then be sent a registration form. All accepted authors are expected to be present on the day of the conference to present synchronously.
Registration is open to non-presenters as well. All participants in the conference MUST be registered to gain entry to the Zoom space. Find the registration link on the conference website.
Languages, Literature, and Mass Communications Symposium (LLAMAS Conference)
The LLAMAS Conference is funded by a grant from the Modern Language Association (MLA) and Colorado Mesa University
Date:
Friday, October 30 – Saturday October 31, 2026
Location:
Grand Junction, CO
Purpose:
Colorado Mesa University’s Department of Languages, Literature, and Mass Communication is hosting a conference for undergraduate students in the humanities. The LLAMAS (Languages, Literature, and Mass Communication Symposium) Conference aims to help undergraduate students to gain professional academic experience, develop their intellectual confidence, and deepen their learning by being exposed to a diverse collection of others’ work.
Submission Eligibility:
All undergraduate students in the humanities are eligible to speak at the LLAMAS Conference. We welcome Sigma Tau Delta members to present sponsored panels.
Submission Requirements:
Submit an abstract to the Microsoft Forms Link by September 1, 2026.
Types of Submissions Accepted:
LLAMAS accepts abstracts for paper presentations, audio/visual presentations, reflection on creative work, and other presentations pertaining to the humanities.
Submission Deadline:
September 1, 2026
Email Questions to:
Aidan Leschen at atleschen@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
Sigma Tau Delta Southwestern Regional Conference
Sponsored by the Delta Delta Chapter at Sam Houston State University and the Alpha Psi Nu Chapter at The University of Texas at Dallas
Date:
Saturday, November 7, 2026
Location:
Sam Houston State University Huntsville, Texas and virtual
Purpose:
The Southwestern Regional Conference is a free hybrid conference, offering sessions virtually and on the campus of Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX. All on-campus sessions will be made available virtually as well. We welcome submissions from NEHS, Sigma Kappa Delta, and Sigma Tau Delta members. We welcome presentations in literary studies and creative writing. Individual presentations will be grouped in panels with 2-3 other presenters based on genre, topic, time period, and all topics listed on the English Honor Societies convention site as appropriate. Presentations should be between 8 and 15 minutes. In keeping with the requirements for the English Honor Societies convention, papers should be limited to 2,000 words. Among other things, we hope this event provides new presenters an opportunity to practice their presentation skills and receive feedback on their work.
The Southwestern Region welcomes Tawanda Mulalu, Visiting Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Dallas and Poet. Tawanda will be addressing techné and talking about editing creative works as well as answering questions during the Keynote Presentation (1 – 2 p.m. CT).
Submission Eligibility:
Members of NEHS, Sigma Kappa Delta, Sigma Tau Delta, including alumni members.
Submission Requirements:
See the conference website https://sites.google.com/view/sigtausouthwest for more information and the submission form.
Presenters are asked to submit the following:
- paper title
- an abstract of no more than 500 words
- relevant keywords
- personal details including name, email address, school. college, or university and membership in NEHS, Sigma Kappa Delta, Sigma Tau Delta
Authors of creative works, please aim to fill the 8-15 minute individual presentation block. Whether that means reading multiple related pieces from a collection or a single longer work (fewer than 2,000 words), either is suitable.
This event may be used as a practice session for those hoping to attend the English Honor Societies convention in Milwaukee, so papers should be limited to 2,000 words. Presentation times should be 8-15 minutes.
Types of Submissions Accepted:
Critical writing including pedagogical pieces and creative writing.
Submission Deadline:
October 18, 2026
Email Questions to:
Diane Dowdey at eng_dxd@shsu.edu
