It is with mixed feelings that the organizers of the Roundtable Conference: Coronavirus and International Affairs, originally scheduled for 20 March 2020 to be held at Pennsylvania State University, must announce that the Roundtable Conference will be POSTPONED to FRIDAY 17 APRIL 2020 and re-organized in a new format as a wholly online event.
Public health concerns, and the rapidly evolving situation in the United States now makes any other decision reckless. In making this decision, we were motivated primarily by concerns for the health and safety of our participants, but also of our audience. Physical meetings have been substantially curtailed and those in the university have been effectively forbidden in the near term. The organizers seek to comply with all measures that further the objectives of safety and of the efforts to minimize the spread of the disease.
We delayed because we were reluctant to cancel the event in the face of the overwhelming health and safety concerns, and sought to find a way to quickly transform the event from one with a potentially substantial physical presence to one that could be held wholly online. We were unsuccessful given the time constraints we faced. Moreover, we were reluctant to seek to burden the university with these issues out of a concern that its resources are now given, and quite correctly, to our teaching and administrative responsibilities. I also became clear that online alternatives will take some time to arrange and to publicize.
At the same time, the possibility of pursuing an online alternative militated against cancellation and convinced us that we would do more good postponing and re-shaping rather than canceling the event. Indeed, that re-scheduling and transformation if the event could itself provide additional topics for discussion about the world of academic discourse and knowledge production within and among universities in the post-COVID-19 world. Thus, the pandemic itself suggests both the importance of the topic, and the ways that it is changing the way that organized human activity is being transformed. In that context working hard to change the format of the event to suit the times might itself serve as one of the more important elements of the Conference Roundtable.
We appreciate the support of those interested in this event. We are grateful for your patience and flexibility. Over the next week we will distribute more information with specifics about the POSTPONED EVENT. We hope to be able to organize the postponed event with some form of interactive participatory elements within the parameters and limitations of an online event, one that may not be simulcast.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR 17 APRIL 2020. If possible we will simulcast from 9.30 am (U.S. East Coast Time) through 12.30 PM. If not were will hold the event remotely at that time and then immediately post the recording line. We hope as well to be able to gather your questions, inputs, statements and opinions and share them during the course of the Event. The website for the Conference Roundtable remains unchanged: https://www.thecpe.org/projects/education-projects/roundtable-coronavirus-and-international-affairs/.
Public health concerns, and the rapidly evolving situation in the United States now makes any other decision reckless. In making this decision, we were motivated primarily by concerns for the health and safety of our participants, but also of our audience. Physical meetings have been substantially curtailed and those in the university have been effectively forbidden in the near term. The organizers seek to comply with all measures that further the objectives of safety and of the efforts to minimize the spread of the disease.
We delayed because we were reluctant to cancel the event in the face of the overwhelming health and safety concerns, and sought to find a way to quickly transform the event from one with a potentially substantial physical presence to one that could be held wholly online. We were unsuccessful given the time constraints we faced. Moreover, we were reluctant to seek to burden the university with these issues out of a concern that its resources are now given, and quite correctly, to our teaching and administrative responsibilities. I also became clear that online alternatives will take some time to arrange and to publicize.
At the same time, the possibility of pursuing an online alternative militated against cancellation and convinced us that we would do more good postponing and re-shaping rather than canceling the event. Indeed, that re-scheduling and transformation if the event could itself provide additional topics for discussion about the world of academic discourse and knowledge production within and among universities in the post-COVID-19 world. Thus, the pandemic itself suggests both the importance of the topic, and the ways that it is changing the way that organized human activity is being transformed. In that context working hard to change the format of the event to suit the times might itself serve as one of the more important elements of the Conference Roundtable.
We appreciate the support of those interested in this event. We are grateful for your patience and flexibility. Over the next week we will distribute more information with specifics about the POSTPONED EVENT. We hope to be able to organize the postponed event with some form of interactive participatory elements within the parameters and limitations of an online event, one that may not be simulcast.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR 17 APRIL 2020. If possible we will simulcast from 9.30 am (U.S. East Coast Time) through 12.30 PM. If not were will hold the event remotely at that time and then immediately post the recording line. We hope as well to be able to gather your questions, inputs, statements and opinions and share them during the course of the Event. The website for the Conference Roundtable remains unchanged: https://www.thecpe.org/projects/education-projects/roundtable-coronavirus-and-international-affairs/.
Stay tuned!
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