APT on the Road
March 2026 APT Updates
We’re taking the show on the road: the APT team has been connecting with higher education leaders and stakeholders across the country to learn more about successes and challenges in fostering trust relationships between campuses and their communities. March began a long stretch of Spring travel for the team, with three events in the last two weeks of the month.
APT co-directors Jeremy C. Young and Kathryn Enke attended Campus Compact’s annual conference, Compact26, and Young (with AAC&U colleague Ashley Finley) presented on “Advancing Public Trust in Higher Education Through Community Engagement.” It was the team’s first presentation of major points in our forthcoming report before a live audience of campus practitioners. We received excellent and thoughtful feedback from a standing-room-only crowd, and staff enjoyed the remainder of the conference, which was a celebration of best practices in building relationships between campuses and the communities they serve.
The APT team continued its spring travel with a convening on faculty governance and public trust hosted by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on March 24. The discussion reinforced the importance of collaboration between institutional and faculty leaders, with participants offering thoughtful perspectives on how to strengthen these relationships. A central takeaway was the need to build durable systems of trust within institutions through ongoing, collaborative problem-solving.
While in Boston, the team also visited Bunker Hill Community College, where we were warmly welcomed by President Pam Eddinger and her team. In addition to a productive conversation with campus leadership, we had the opportunity to hear the perspectives of a number of Bunker Hill students and to learn more about the college’s inspiring programs to foster community and support student success. Seeing trust-building in practice left the APT team energized for the work ahead.
Don’t miss our forthcoming events! If you can attend any of the following, please say hello to our team.
On April 8 at 9 AM ET, APT team members will speak on a virtual panel hosted by the Global Observatory for Academic Freedom at King’s College London; you can register for that event here.
If you happen to be in Berlin, Germany on April 8 or 9, connect with Jeremy Young at events associated with the Philipp Schwartz Forum, where he’ll be speaking at a pre-conference.
On April 16, the APT team will present at AAC&U’s Conference on Learning and Student Success and Forum on Transformational Leadership in Tucson, Arizona.
On May 22-23, join us at the JB Duke Hotel in Durham, North Carolina for a conference on higher education and illiberalism, co-sponsored by the Democracy and Politics of Higher Education project at Duke University’s Kenan Institute for Ethics; here’s the registration page for the free in-person event.
On June 24, APT staff will speak at a plenary session at the Conference on Undergraduate Research’s ConnectUR conference in College Park, MD.