TYCAT 2024
November 8-9
Chattanooga

“Hope and Resolve: Nurturing Resilience in Our Students and Ourselves”

We are so excited to announce that our 2024 conference will be in-person on the main campus of Chattanooga State Community College in Southeast Tennessee. And though TYCAT is the Tennessee state affiliate of TYCA-SE, we’d love to invite any of our friends from colleges in neighboring states to join us at our November gathering in Chattanooga. Below, you will find the latest conference updates, including information about the Call for Proposals, our guest speaker, registration fees, our tentative schedule, lodging options, and possible spots for your Saturday morning breakfast needs. In the next month, the registration link will become active. In the meantime, if you have questions, you may direct those to joel.henderson @ chattanoogastate.edu. Please make plans to join us in Chattanooga on November 8-9 for TYCAT 2024!

The 2024 program has Been finalized!

You’ll receive a print copy of the program in your conference materials upon arrival, but here’s an early look at a digital copy, so you can start deciding which sessions you want to attend.

directions to campus

The address for the main campus is 4501 Amnicola Highway; Chattanooga, TN 37406, but there are two entrances to campus, either of which will get you to the Health Science Building (HSC):

  • The main entrance is at the traffic light, and it will take you on a one-way loop around the small pond in the center of campus. The HSC is the last building on your right before you return to the exit to Amnicola Highway.

  • The "West Entrance" is a marked two-way road that will take you to the HSC on a more direct route. 

Both of these routes are highlighted in yellow on the map below, and the HSC is designated with a yellow box around the building and parking lot. There is ample available parking in the HSC parking lot, P15.

Call for Proposals

The Call for Proposals has now ended, and we’re excited to report that we’ll be offering

a schedule of over 25 different presentations by speakers from 11 different schools.

Thank you for your robust response to the CFP.

We look forward to seeing you in Chattanooga in November!

“...Hope is one dimensional without resolve…”

-Andre Dubus III, “Fences and Fields,” Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin

We are pleased to share the theme of our 2024 conference: “Hope and Resolve: Nurturing Resilience in Our Students and Ourselves.” As community college professors, we recognize the importance of fueling in our students (and nurturing in ourselves) the twin engines of success: hope and resolve. Though students frequently arrive at the doors of our classrooms enthusiastic for a new beginning, it’s easy for that momentum to die. Their hope may dim as they’re confronted with the realities of balancing work, school, and family, or their resolve may falter in the face of seemingly insurmountable classroom assignments and academic schedules. So, too, may our hope and resolve as teachers flag when confronted with the barrage of unending educational mandates, mantras of “do more with less,” and the ever increasing generational gap between us and our students. 

Our guest speaker, Andre Dubus III, addresses this need for both goals and grit in his new collection of essays, Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin. Writing often of his own life, Dubus III talks about the drive, equal parts hope and resolve, that delivered him from a childhood of hardscrabble poverty. Similarly, as teachers, we strive to help our students escape poverty (of finances, of the spirit, of the mind, etc.) by nurturing their hopes and bolstering their resolve. At the same time, we work hard to remain resilient in our classrooms and as colleagues. This is what we hope to consider during our conference. To use Dubus III’s language, how do we remain hopeful and resolute as 21st-century educators? How do we inspire these twin qualities in our students? 

Please join us in examining the way(s) that we teach after the last four years of unprecedented challenges in academia. Though recent times have presented community colleges (and the students who attend them) with no shortage of difficulties and obstacles, we remain both hopeful and resolute as community college English teachers. As you prepare to share your techniques with fellow conference attendees, we’re interested in knowing WHY you’re doing what you’re doing (perhaps ground your presentation in a problem or theoretical basis) as well as WHAT you’re doing (consider offering some very practical information, including sharing handouts, assignments, etc.)

We are offering a choice of three presentation types:

  • A TYCAT Talk (TED Talks-style presentation) in which the presenter(s) will have 15 minutes to offer a dynamic talk on a topic of his/her/their choice plus an additional 5 minutes for questions and discussion

  • A Panel Presentation in which two or more presenters will have up to 60 minutes to focus on a topic or series of related topics followed by questions and discussion

  • A Roundtable Discussion wherein a presenter may facilitate a conversation among peers on a specific selected topic for up to 60 minutes

In addition to sessions focused on the conference theme, we welcome presentations concerning any aspect of teaching English in the community college classroom.

Deadline for submission is September 30, 2024.

Featured Speaker


In keeping with TYCAT’s history of nationally-recognized authors and presenters, we’re pleased to reveal that the featured speaker at our annual luncheon will be Andre Dubus III.

Dubus is the author of Dirty Love, The Garden of Last Days, House of Sand and Fog (a New York Times bestseller, Oprah Book Club pick, and finalist for the National Book Award), Townie, Such Kindness: A Novel, and a new essay collection entitled Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin.

His work has been recognized with an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Magazine Award, and two Pushcart Prizes.

He lives with his family in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Praise for Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin…

"To read this book is to touch the pulsing core of what it is to be human.”
― Dani Shapiro, author of Signal Fires

"In a conversational style that disguises its structure and solidity, Dubus’ sentences glide on a level pitch before seamlessly dovetailing into the poetically poignant. Within Dubus’ vast heart lies a pugilist intent on defeating his own demons."
—Bill Kelly, Booklist Starred Review

"This may be the best book you’ll read in years."
- The Wall Street Journal  

Mr. Dubus’s participation at our conference is made possible through the generous support of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

 

Registration information

$75.00-Early Registration ends September 30

$100.00-Late Registration begins October 1

Adjuncts and Retired Faculty attend free if registered before October 1.

Registration is now open via Eventbrite.

Updated schedule

 

Thank You to our sponsors

Nearby hotels

Though there is no designated conference hotel, the following options are located in the Chattanooga suburb of Hixson, just across the Tennessee River from the Chattanooga State Community College main campus. Note that all prices are from hotel websites as of 04.16.24. Some may offer state employee rates that are lower than those posted.

Hampton Inn Chattanooga/Hixson (a Hilton hotel)

1920 Hamill Rd, Hixson, TN 37343 (A 6-minute drive to campus, 3.3 miles)
King from $134, 2 Queen from $139
Amenities: Free hot breakfast, Free parking, Free Wi-Fi, Outdoor pool, Fitness center, Business center

Holiday Inn Express & Suites Chattanooga – Hixson

4820 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343 (A 7-minute drive to campus, 3.4 miles)
King Standard from $149, 2 Queen Standard from $149, King Suite from $180, 2 Queen Suite from $184, Standard room from $184
Amenities: Free hot breakfast, Complimentary coffee in lobby, Free parking, Wi-Fi included, Indoor pool (heated), Fitness center, Business center

La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Chattanooga North – Hixson

5000 New Country Dr, Hixson, TN 37343 (An 8-minute drive to campus, 3.6 miles)
King from $150; 2 Queen from $160; 1 King, 1 Full, studio suite from $160; 1 King, 1 Twin, deluxe suite from $170;2 Queen, 1 sofa bed, deluxe family suite from $190
Amenities: Free breakfast, Free parking, Free Wi-Fi, Mobile check-in, Indoor pool, Fitness center

TownePlace Suites by Marriott Hixson

5248 TN-153, Hixson, TN 37343 (An 8-minute drive to campus, 3.7 miles)
Studio, 1 King, sofa bed from $117; Studio, 2 Queens from $117
Amenities: Free buffet and hot breakfast, Free coffee/tea, Kitchen, Free parking with electric car charging station, Free Wi-Fi, Indoor pool, Fitness center

Nearby breakfast restaurants

The following restaurants offer affordable Saturday morning breakfast options in the Hixson area. Those marked with an asterisk are local eateries.

Drip Kitchen and Coffee*

$10-20
6018 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343
Opens at 7am

Dunkin’ Donuts

$1-10
5311 TN-153, Hixson, TN 37343
Opens at 5am

First Watch

$10-20
5207 TN-153 Suite 101, Hixson, TN 37343
Opens at 7am

IHOP

$10-20
5113 TN-153, Hixson, TN 37343
Opens at 6am

Mimis Deli*

$10-20
5023 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343
Opens at 8am

Panera

$10-20
562 Northgate Mall Dr. Suite 102, Chattanooga, TN 37415
Opens at 7am

Starbucks

$5-10
5238 TN-153, Hixson, TN 37343
Opens at 5am

Waffle House

$10-20
5466 TN-153, Hixson, TN 37343
Open 24 hours