We're excited to announce that we will be partnering with the Consulate of Canada in Minneapolis to host the 2012 MWACS conference as originally planned on Oct. 5-6, 2012.

The conference will have two parts. On Friday, Oct. 5, we will bring in speakers engaged in issues related to border security in the Great Plains and Prairies. Both the University and the Consulate have a strong relationship with the border patrol agencies in the United States and Canada, as well as with government officials in the region and members of the military at the Grand Forks Air Force base. Our hope is to encourage a broad-ranging discussion involving scholars and practitioners.

On Saturday, Oct. 6, we will set up panels of papers by MWACS scholars. Our call for papers (attached to this message) remains the same. We want to encourage a wide range of papers, not just about the border, but about the topics of your research, again in the hope of encouraging a broad-ranging and interdisciplinary discussion.

Although we have had to scale back some of our original plans, we still intend to keep registration fees at $100 or less for employed academics and at $50 or less for students. We will also be providing at least one dinner/reception.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us (Kyle Conway: kyle.conway@und.edu or Tim Pasch: timothy.pasch@und.edu). We'll be happy to help in any way you can.

Thanks again to the Consulate for their willingness to partner with us.

Sincerely,

Kyle Conway

Timothy Pasch