Get Ready for an Energizing Start to the Annual Meeting!
Kick off the experience on Wednesday, December 2 with hands-on pre-meeting workshops designed to sharpen your insight and spark new ideas. At 5:00 pm, connect with peers at the New Member and First-Time Attendee Meet and Greet, followed by the Opening Reception at 6:00 pm, where the energy, networking, and excitement for the days ahead truly begin.
The main program launches Thursday, December 3 at 8:30 am, with powerful plenary and concurrent sessions that dive into today’s most critical issues in graduate education. Don’t miss the sponsored breakfasts, lightning sessions, and dynamic conversations happening throughout the exhibit hall, open December 3 and 4.
Plenary Sessions Include
- The Global Landscape of Graduate Education: Challenges and Opportunities
- Making the Case for Graduate Education: Earning the Public’s Trust
- From Reaction to Strategy: Leading Systemic Change
- From Vision to Impact: Public-Private Collaboration and the Next Era of Graduate Education – LaPidus Lecture
- Accreditation at a Turning Point: Autonomy, Accountability, Control, and the Future of Higher Education
- Three-Minute Thesis (3MT®): Showcase and Roundtable Discussion
Concurrent Sessions Include
- Graduate Education without Borders
- Building Research Environments Where Graduate Students Thrive
- New Models of University/Employer Partnerships
- Outcomes that Count: Collecting, Understanding, and Using Data
- 2026 Election Outcomes and What it Means for the Graduate Education Community
- Communicating and Improving ROI of Master’s Degree Programs
- Three-Year Bachelor’s Degrees and Graduate Admissions Policies
- Leveraging Partnerships and Elevating Advocacy: Lessons Learned from a Graduate Student Experience Survey
- Mentoring: Training to Improve and Graduate Faculty Review When Problematic
- Tracking, Connecting, and Bridging: Doctoral Career
- Data-Informed Approaches to Program Review, Funding, and Outcomes
- In House Graduate Recruitment Engine
- Supporting International Enrollment in a Volatile Environment
CGS Awards Luncheon
On Thursday, December 3, the Annual CGS Awards Luncheon will honor the exemplary work of graduate students and graduate schools. Recipients of the Gustave Arlt Award, the CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertations Awards, the CGS/ETS Award, the Debra W. Stewart award and the Assistant and Associate Deans Leadership Award, will all be announced during the presentation.
LaPidus Lecture
The LaPidus lecture will be presented at the afternoon plenary session on Friday, December 4 at 2:00 pm. This lecture was established to honor the late Jules LaPidus, a former-president of CGS. The lecture is delivered each year by an international leader and visionary thinker.
Dr. Gary May, Chancellor of the University of California, Davis will deliver the 2026 lecture, “From Vision to Impact: Public-Private Collaboration and the Next Era of Graduate Education.”
Lightning Round Sessions
These 30-minute sessions are opportunities to learn about solutions to some of the most pressing challenges on your campus. Don’t miss the chance to hear from industry leaders about their recent work with graduate schools, and to help shape their future products and services.
Session topics will be announced soon…