Scholar Activism: All Around Us and Within

Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology Annual Meeting

St. Louis / Clayton Missouri | Le Meridien Hotel | October 16 – 19, 2025

Figure 1: Photo taken from the top of the Arch by Colin Suchland – AACS Secretary

As clinical, applied, and public sociologists, we strive to do more than just understand our social world. We work to create a more positive social world in both big and small ways through the systematic study, application, and practice of sociology. While we don’t all consider ourselves to be scholar-activists, we do know that scholarship that is driven by social justice ideals is equally important as activism that is rooted in sound scholarship driven by scientific principles. We also know that these two paths intersect in hopefully positive ways within the role of the scholar-activist. At the 2025 annual meeting of the

Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology, we will thematically focus on the scholar-activism that is all around us and within us through plenaries, keynotes, and regular sessions. We encourage you to submit items (papers, panels, workshops, etc.) that reflect this theme, but also welcome all submissions that reflect the mission of the organization to promote applied and clinical sociology in all of its forms – including research, teaching, and practice.

Conference Submissions: Formal Papers, full panels, skills-based workshops, or other creative session formats should be submitted using the form found here.

Closed sessions and posters should be submitted through separate submission forms.

Submissions should follow the criteria below – but we also welcome submissions that are creative in other ways.

• Paper Presentations: sessions will include brief presentations about academic works in progress (research papers, applied project outcomes, clinical interventions, teaching applied sociology, etc.) alongside other presenters organized thematically. Each paper session will last about an hour, allowing for 3-4 presenters to speak for about 15 minutes each.

• Panel Sessions: the sessions will include the submission of an entire panel of experts on a particular issue, topic, or practice with the expectation of presentation and discussion, but without the expectation of formal paper presentations. Panel sessions will take place over an entire session period.

• Skill-based Workshops: workshops may be presented by a single presenter or a group of several presenters, but should provide an overview of the basic skill(s) needed to complete a process or accomplish an applied research task. Workshops will take place over an entire session period.

• Closed Sessions: We will also accept “closed session” submissions of 3-4 papers grouped together by the session organizer into a single session with a shared topic or theme. These sessions must be submitted using a separate form (see below).

• Student Poster Presentation: We welcome poster submissions from undergraduate and graduate students. Posters may include any combination of text, tables, and figures to visually present a research project, proposal, or work in progress. These posters will be presented concurrently at one poster session, which typically takes place at our opening reception on Thursday October 16th. Presentation (papers, panels, workshops, etc) Proposals Due by June 1st, 2025 (SUBMIT HERE). Closed Session Proposals Due by July 1st, 2025 (SUBMIT HERE).

Posters should be submitted on the separate Poster Submission Form by the poster deadline of July 1st, 2025 (SUBMIT HERE).

St. Louis Missouri: Gateway to the West

St. Louis is ready to welcome AACS members with a host of activities and entertainment, with the iconic Gateway Arch being just the start of places to explore.

While there is much to do in the area immediately surrounding the conference hotel located in the second “downtown” of St. Louis in suburb of Clayton at the Le Meridien Hotel, we will also have access to the larger St. Louis City area by car and via the light-rail system known as the MetroLink, which also conveniently runs out to St. Louis Lambert International Airport. The train can take you to several of the nearest attractions in historic Forest Park, home of

the 1904 World’s Fair. Today the park boasts St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum and the St. Louis Science Center. Best of all, many of these sites offer free general admission. A park shuttle is available. An online guide to Forest Park is available here.

By train or auto, downtown St. Louis is a short trip away, and has several sites to explore on foot, most notably The Arch. Featuring a large museum underneath and breathtaking views from the top, The Arch is also near the historic Missouri State Capitol and Busch Stadium, home of Cardinals baseball. City Museum, City Garden, Union Station and St. Louis Aquarium, and the Schlafly Tap room round out downtown points of interest.

If you are looking to get out in the city the Missouri Botanical Gardens and The Hill neighborhood, home of great Italian food, are worth a visit. You can find these and so much more in this online guidebook.

We hope to meet you in St. Louis!