Events

Attend or view webinars on your schedule and connect with peers at higher education conferences and professional networking events across the U.S. - especially useful for new or mid-level professionals. Share your lessons learned with colleagues by presenting a session at one of our conferences for higher education and get involved with the association by becoming a volunteer leader. Connect with other high-level leaders through fantastic networking opportunities during the Annual Conference and all our events, which are designed to foster professional development and career growth. Webinars are free for UPCEA Members, and membership also provides discounts to all our conferences and other events, supporting your ongoing professional learning.

• Conferences and Seminars
• Webinars & Chats
• Regional Salons
• Past Events

Conferences and Seminars

APRIL 15-17, 2026

2026 Annual Conference

New Orleans, LA

Visit the event website

JULY 29-31, 2026

2026 SOLAR (Summit for Online Leadership and Administration)

Boston, MA

Visit the event website

OCTOBER 13-15, 2026

2026 Convergence | Credential Innovation in Higher Education

Washington, DC

Visit the event website

NOVEMBER 30 - DECEMBER 2, 2026

MEMS 2026 | Marketing, Enrollment Management, and Student Success Conference

Orlando, FL

Visit the event website

UPCEA Regional Salons | Virtual | Free and open to all UPCEA members

MULTIPLE DATES

2026 Regional Salons: Free to All UPCEA Members

Virtual

Visit the event website

Save the dates for these upcoming events:

- February 3-4, 2027 | 2027 UPCEA Digital Teaching & Learning (DT&L) Conference | Virtual
- April 13-15, 2027 | 2027 UPCEA Annual Conference | Anaheim, CA | The Anaheim Marriott

Click here to view past events

See Featured External Engagements by UPCEA Staff

Webinars & Chats

March 23, 2026 | 3:00 PM-4:00 PM ET

Coffee Chat | Know Before You Go: Navigating the Annual Conference

Hosted by UPCEA

Whether you’re a newcomer or a pro, join us for an informal opportunity to connect with other Annual Conference attendees. This fast-paced coffee chat will get you up to speed, give you an opportunity to ask questions and start thinking about planning your conference adventure. We’ll cover what you can expect to LEARN, how to get to KNOW attendees and what else you might DO in town.

Click here to access the room at 3PM on March 23 or download our calendar invite below.

Coffee Chats are informal, unrecorded, live opportunities to connect with UPCEA peers. Typically an hour or less, they provide time to discuss topics of interest, share ideas and connect with others in a casual setting.

Click here to download a calendar invite

March 24, 2026 | 12:00 PM-1:00 PM ET

Webinar | Make Your Existing Marketing Work Harder for AI Search Visibility

Hosted by Search Influence

Join UPCEA and Search Influence to learn how to unify your existing marketing efforts into a clear, credible presence that aligns with current learner search behavior and is optimized for AI-powered discovery.

This webinar is designed for higher education marketers, enrollment leaders, and communications teams who want to improve AI search visibility while navigating constrained budgets and time.

If you’re responsible for program marketing, content, PR, or digital strategy, this session will show you how to make your existing marketing work smarter.

You’ll learn practical, real-world tactics for supporting AI search visibility using the marketing you’re already doing.

The webinar focuses on:

How AI search tools surface and evaluate institutional content
Why inconsistent or siloed marketing hurts AI visibility
How to align PR, content, messaging, and channel execution to strengthen trust and relevance
Ways to repurpose and reinforce existing assets so programs are more likely to appear in AI-powered search results

Presenters:

Emily West, UPCEA

Paula French, Search Influence

Will Scott, Search Influence

March 24, 2026 | 2:00 PM-3:00 PM ET

Coffee Chat | New ID on the Block: Strategies for a Successful Transition

Hosted by the eDesign Collaborative Network

Starting a new instructional design role, whether you’re new to the field or new to a team, can be both exciting and overwhelming. Also, from a different perspective, when welcoming and onboarding a new team member, you want to make sure you strike the right balance--from ensuring the new team member is supported to helping them integrate quickly into your team's workflows and culture. Whether you're the newbie excited (or nervous) about day one, or you're gearing up to onboard your next star designer, come connect with peers, swap stories, and leave with fresh ideas to make transitions smoother for everyone.

Click here to access the room at 2PM on March 24 or download our calendar invite below.

Click here to download a calendar invite

March 25, 2026 | 2:00 PM-3:00 PM ET

Webinar | From Checklists to Check-ins: Accessibility, AI, and Human Judgement in EdTech

Hosted by Blackboard

Accessibility works best with intentionality. What makes it meaningful is what makes it human: reflection, judgment, and care. At the same time, innovation in EdTech is moving faster than ever, with AI-driven tools that promise to streamline accessibility work at scale. These advances offer real opportunity, and they also raise important questions about how institutions maintain ethical decision-making as technology becomes more central to learning design.

This panel brings together accessibility leaders from higher education and EdTech to explore accessibility as a design opportunity, an ethical commitment and an ongoing legal obligation. Drawing on real institutional experience, the panel will examine where automation and AI genuinely advance accessibility—and where human judgment adds value that technology alone cannot provide.

Moderated by Julie Uranis, Senior Vice President, Online and Strategic Initiatives at UPCEA, and featuring April Akins, LMS Administrator at Greenville Technical College, Daniel Singletary, Digital Accessibility Manager, University of Missouri System, and Dr. Amy Lomellini, Director of Accessibility art Blackboard, we'll discuss how institutions can innovate quickly and responsibly, why there is no silver bullet for accessibility compliance, and how the tools and technologies we choose reveal what we truly value about learners, faculty, and learning.

Attendees will leave with practical principles for distinguishing durable accessibility practices from short-term solutions, and for adopting AI and emerging technologies in ways that preserve trust, equity, and long-term accessibility progress.

Presenters:

April Akins, Greenville Technical College

Daniel Singletary, University of Missouri System

Dr. Amy Lomellini, Blackboard

Moderator:

Dr. Julie Uranis, UPCEA

March 31, 2026 | 12:00 PM-12:45 PM ET

Webinar | Scaling Short Courses Across 25 Schools: How the University of Edinburgh Built a Unified CE Ecosystem

Hosted by Drieam

How did the University of Edinburgh go from fragmented short course delivery across 25 schools to a single, unified CE ecosystem supporting 1,000+ courses and 11,500+ enrolments in under a year?

Since launching in June 2025, the platform has supported over 1,000 courses, 7,000 unique learners, and more than 11,500 enrolments, all within a single, unified ecosystem. Building a centralized continuing education platform across a large, complex institution is no small feat. With 25 schools, diverse learner audiences, and no shared infrastructure, the University of Edinburgh needed more than a new tool, they needed a complete rethink of how short courses were delivered, discovered, and managed.

In this session, the University of Edinburgh team takes center stage to share how they built a scalable, learner-first short course ecosystem from the ground up and what it truly takes to bring an entire institution along on the journey.

Joined by Kevin Martin, VP of Sector Strategy at Instructure, who will share why partnerships like this one represent the future of continuing education infrastructure and how institutions can navigate building an enterprise-ready CE ecosystem within the Canvas environment.

Speakers:

Myles Blaney – Senior Learning Technology Service Manager, University of Edinburgh
Fiona Buckland – Learning Technology Team Manager, University of Edinburgh
Lauren Johnston-Smith – Marketing Lead for Short Courses, University of Edinburgh
Kevin Martin – VP, Sector Strategy, Instructure
Mieke Ridderhof – CMO & Managing Director US & APAC, Drieam

April 1, 2026 | 3:00 PM-4:00 PM ET

Coffee Chat | You’ve Got This: Thriving Through Credential Innovation

Hosted by the Credential Innovation Network

We are wrapping up the #NewToCredentials Coffee Chat series by tapping into our most valuable asset yet: motivation! Join us for a conversation on tips, advice, and mindsets for persisting and growing in the credential innovation space. We’ll talk about realistic approaches to staying motivated, supporting mental health, and cultivating resilience for both you and your team. Expect an encouraging, collaborative conversation designed to help you keep going—because the work you’re doing matters.

Click here to access the room at 3PM on April 1 or download our calendar invite below.

Click here to download a calendar invite

Click here to view past webinar recordings