Robert Dunlop

Teacher | Curriculum Consultant | Author

Robert Dunlop

Opening Keynote Speaker
Wednesday, May 28, 2025 @ 9:15 am ET

STRIVE for Happiness in Education
This engaging presentation challenges the audience to evaluate how happy they are professionally and inspires them to make changes to their mindsets, habits and routines. The goal is that the participants leave feeling energized, optimistic about their future in education and equipped with new strategies to implement into their lives. 

Robert Dunlop is a teacher, curriculum consultant, author, and inspiring speaker who believes that there is nothing more powerful than an educator who loves coming to school each day. His personal journey and his work with thousands of teachers, principals and support staff has given him insight into the importance of finding more happiness in education. Robert channels his passion for helping others into engaging, informative, research-based professional development that always leaves his audience feeling empowered and inspired to make positive changes in their lives.

Panel Discussion

Accelerating & Expanding Institutional Capacity for Employer Engagement in Credential Innovation

Thursday, May 29, 2025 @ 11:00 am ET

In this lively panel, presenters will highlight lessons learned from our collective work in helping institutions cultivate innovative engagement models with employers. Through case study and ample time for audience questions, we’ll share the ways in which we are each working to develop actionable steps to align credentials with employer needs, ensuring strategic innovation, learner value, and market relevance. Attendees will leave with a greater understanding of the state of non-degree credentials, an opportunity to benchmark their institution's own efforts when compared to those institutions involved in the project, and a better understanding of best practices to deploy in expanding institutional capacity for deeper employer engagement.

Panelists: 

  • Amrit Ahluwalia, Executive Director, Western Continuing Studies, Western University
  • Juan Mavo-Navarro, Assistant Dean, Lifelong Learning & Innovation, University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies
  • Rod Lastra, Interim President CAUCE; Digital Innovation & Engagement, Division of Extended Education, University of Manitoba
  • Lena Patterson, Assistant Dean, Programs, The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, Toronto Metropolitan University
  • Christie Schultz, Dean of the Centre for Continuing Education (CCE), University of Regina

 Moderator:

  • Amy Heitzman, Deputy Chief Executive Officer & Chief Learning Officer, UPCEA

Jessica Riddell

Professor | Founder of the Hope Circuits Institute

Jessica Riddell

Closing Keynote Speaker
Friday, May 30, 2025 @ 10:30 am ET

Topic: Hope Circuits: Lifelong Learning as a Pathway to Purpose and Collective Flourishing

In an era where the landscape of higher education is evolving rapidly, continuing and lifelong learning offer powerful opportunities for transformation, connection, and hope. Drawing inspiration from the Hope Circuits framework, this talk explores how institutions and professionals can tap into the potential of education to build spaces of belonging, purpose, and resilience. Lifelong learning is not just about gaining knowledge—it is about connecting learners to their deeper sense of purpose, or telos, and fostering the conditions for personal and collective flourishing.

By focusing on adult and non-traditional learners, this session highlights how CAUCE’s commitment to inclusive, agile, and welcoming educational spaces can help learners navigate their journeys and find pathways to higher education that align with their values. Ongoing education enables individuals to ignite their passions and contribute meaningfully to society, creating a ripple effect of hope and transformation.

Together we will explore the role of continuing education in fostering hope through the act of learning. We will discuss strategies for designing systems that meet learners where they are, create pathways for belonging, and cultivate a culture of shared purpose. By embedding these principles into lifelong learning practices, educators can strengthen learners' sense of mattering, purpose, and agency, ensuring that they flourish throughout their lives. Attendees will leave with actionable insights on how to integrate hope circuits into their work to make a lasting impact on both learners and the larger educational community.

Dr. Jessica Riddell is a Full Professor of Early Modern Literature at Bishop’s University and holds the Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence. As founder of the Hope Circuits Institute (HCI), she drives systems-change in higher education, focusing on governance, leadership, and student success. In a landscape rife with indictments of broken systems, her work invites people across the post-secondary ecosystem to co-create blueprints for meaningful rewiring that centers justice, equity, and access. Her 2024 book, Hope Circuits: Rewiring Universities and Other Organizations for Human Flourishing (McGill-Queen's Press), offers a roadmap for this transformation. A recognized leader, scholar, and educator, she serves on multiple boards and has received numerous awards and grants for teaching and leadership, including the 3M National Teaching Fellowship (Canada's highest recognition of educational leadership), the D2L Innovation Award (the highest recognition of innovation in partnerships), and the Forces Avenir award (Quebec's highest recognition of teaching excellence in higher education).

Concurrent Session Speakers

The list of presenters will be available in early March.