Indiana University Northwest will host the 83^rd annual conference of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences (IASS) starting at 8 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 12.

The annual conference is an opportunity for faculty and students of public and private colleges and universities to present their research, and collaborate with colleagues across institutions. The conference will bring together scholars and researchers from all over Indiana and for the first time, some out-of-state and international participants.   

The conference will cover several academic disciplines including: social sciences, business, international studies, environmental studies, gender, and urban studies. This interdisciplinary conference is one of the largest held in the state and nationally.

The highlight of the conference will be a 1 p.m. memorial session in the Bergland Auditorium in honor of Elinor Ostrom, Indiana University Distinguished Professor, who passed away in June 2012. Ostrom received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences and was the first woman to be awarded the prize in economics, which has been presented since 1969.

Ostrom had been scheduled to be the keynote speaker of this year’s IASS conference.

Two renowned IU scholars will lead the memorial session: Michael McGinnis, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science at IU Bloomington and Director of the Elinor and Vincent Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis; and William Blomquist, Ph.D., Professor and Dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Additionally, the conference will feature more than 90 academic research papers in various disciplines.

Established in 1929 and incorporated in 1937, the Academy exists to foster communication and collaboration among social scientists across the public and private colleges and universities of Indiana. The Academy is dedicated to the objectives of supporting social science research and dialogue and to promoting the value and visibility of the social sciences in Indiana while providing an environment in which social scientists across the state can interact in cooperation and friendship. 

The 2012 conference is partially funded and supported by the Office of the Chancellor, Academic Affairs, School of Business and Economics and The College of Arts and Sciences.

For registration and payment details, please visit http://www.iass1.org/annual-meetings. Community members are also encouraged to attend the conference by paying the guest fee of $35.00 (includes breakfast and lunch) by October 8.

For more information on the upcoming IASS conference, contact conference co-chairs Surekha Rao, Ph.D. at (219) 980-6934 or skrao@iun.edu; or Chuck Gallmeier, Ph.D. at (219) 981-4236 or cgallmei@iun.edu.