On campus next week: A Conversation executive, talking about The Conversation

Hannah Sussman, University Relations manager for The Conversation, will visit UND to talk with scholars Sept. 17-18

Along with about 80 other universities, UND has partnered with The Conversation, a nonprofit news service dedicated to “unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good.”

At the University, this partnership is considered a “win-win-win.” That’s because it’s proving to be:

• Good for The Conversation and the public it serves, who benefit from UND scholars’ expertise on health, K-12 education, philosophy, rural America, energy, national security and dozens of other topics.
• Good for the UND scholar/authors, many of whom report (in the wake of their Conversation article) increased citations for their scholarly work, contacts by colleagues from around the country and requests by media for interviews.
• Good for the University, which has seen national mentions of UND scholars and scholarship go up dramatically as the University’s Conversation articles rapidly approach 1 million reads.

With that in mind, UND has invited a Conversation executive — Hannah Sussman, manager of University Relations for the organization — to come to campus next week, with the aim of meeting with UND scholars who’d like to learn more.

Are you a UND faculty member or graduate student who’s interested in getting published by The Conversation? Then please feel free to attend one of the sessions below, all of which — despite being labeled as “primarily for” certain fields — are open to scholars in any discipline.

Refine your ‘pitch’

At most of the sessions, Sussman will give a short presentation about The Conversation; talk with one or more UND authors who’ve been published by The Conversation, as well as with an editor or two from The Conversation, who’ll be available via Zoom in many of the sessions; and open the floor (including the authors and editors) to questions.

During the final session (in the Memorial Union, Room 245, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 18), Sussman will be available for short consultations with individual scholars. If you’re a faculty member or grad student with a research interest you’d like to write about, but aren’t quite sure how to refine that idea into a “pitch” for a Conversation article, Sussman will be happy to talk at this session with you.

The dates, times and locations of the sessions are below. Zoom or Learning Stream links for most of the sessions also are available; for more information, please contact the Communications office at the college or office that is hosting the session, or Tom Dennis at UND Communications, tom.dennis@UND.edu.

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Hannah Sussman’s schedule at UND is as follows:

Tuesday, Sept. 17

2 to 3 p.m.: Session primarily for Education, Aerospace and Engineering Faculty; location: UND Education Building, Room 12.

3:30 to 4:30 p.m.: Session primarily for New UND Faculty and Early Career Faculty members, hosted by Randi Tanglen, vice provost for Faculty Affairs; location: O’Kelly Hall, Room 231.

Wednesday, Sept. 18

9:30 to 10:30 a.m.: Session primarily for Arts & Sciences, Business and Law faculty; location: Chester Fritz Library, Room 406.

11 a.m. to noon: Session primarily for graduate students; location: Gershman Graduate Center, Room 302.

2 to 3 p.m.: Session primarily for Health Sciences faculty; location: School of Medicine & Health Sciences, E418 Medium Conference Room.

3:30 to 4:30 p.m.: Wrap-up session, aimed at helping interested faculty generate “pitch” ideas; location: Memorial Union, Room 245.

>> Any questions? Please contact Tom Dennis at UND Communications, tom.dennis@UND.edu. Thank you!