Join us on September 26-27, 2025 for the Heterodox Academy (HxA) Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference at the University of Maryland's College Park Campus, a nationally recognized arboretum and botanical garden. 

The theme of this conference is "The Role of Universities in Promoting Open Inquiry" and will bring together HxA Campus Communities from Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, welcoming faculty, staff, and students from any institution of higher education across the region—whether you're already an HxA member steeped in the HxA way or just “HxA curious.”

The conference begins on Friday, September 26 at 5:00 PM with a welcome reception and dinner and will conclude by 5:30 PM on Saturday, September 27 after a full day of programming.

Conference Session Highlights:

• Start: Friday, September 26 at 5:00 PM
• End: Saturday, September 27 at 5:00 PM
• Plenary panel on Navigating Challenges to Open Inquiry on Campus featuring Dean Chris Celenza of Johns Hopkins University, Dean Susan Rivera of University of Maryland, and Dean Prabhudev Konana of University of Maryland
• Keynote address on University Reform in 2025 by John Tomasi, President of HxA
• Keynote fireside chat on Free Speech and Hate Speech on College Campuses Today with David L. Bernstein, Founder and CEO of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values
• Panel discussion on Teaching with Heterodox Values
• Panel discussion on Leading a HxA Campus Community
• Participant-driven “unconference” sessions—bring your ideas and questions to explore how we foster pluralism and model respectful disagreement on our campuses.

Registration is required for this conference and includes access to all conference programming, meals, and refreshments. 

Register for the conference here.

Registration Rates:

We are pleased to offer dynamic pricing for this conference. 

• Students: $20
  • This category includes all current graduate and undergraduate students
• Adjunct Faculty, Instructor, or Post-Doc: $40
  • This category includes all adjunct professors, lecturers and instructors, and academic post-docs.
• Full time Faculty and Professionals:  $60
  • This category includes everyone else such as tenure-track faculty, staff and administrators, and non-higher ed professionals.

Hotel Accommodations:

If you’re planning to join us from out of town, we have arranged a conference room block with reduced rates at the College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center. To take advantage of the discounted rate of $189/night, please book through this link by September 6th.

The event is co-organized by the HxA Campus Communities at the University of Maryland- College Park, Johns Hopkins University, Virginia Tech, University of Virginia, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, and NC State University.

Please reach out to events@heterodoxacademy.org with any questions.