and a cultural icon of UW\u2013Madison; it represents our \u201cinspired goofiness\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/conferences.union.wisc.edu\/bcce2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2024\/07\/Flamingos-1-1.jpg\")
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The photos above show flamingos on Bascom Hill (a landmark hill at UW\u2013Madison), which have been iconic since the first day of fall classes in 1979. Just three years after the UW\u2013Madison hosted the 4th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, the leaders of the Pail and Shovel Party, Jim Mallon \u201979 and Leon Varjian x\u201983 purchased 1,008 plastic flamingos and planted them all on Bascom Hill as a victory stunt for their recently-won student-government election. Why 1,008? The birds were sold by the dozen, and Varjian wanted to be able to say they had planted more than 1,000. \u201cThe smallest number divisible by 12 that\u2019s over 1,000 is 1,008,\u201d the late Varjian said in an interview.<\/span><\/p>\nSo, flamingos also celebrate the troublemakers\u2014an identity that many chemistry education folks wear proudly!<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_padding=”|0px||||”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.3.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”] Reflecting Back, Marching Forward The 4th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education was held in 1976 at the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison. The closing talk at that conference (presented by Prof. Gilbert Haight, University of Illinois,Urbana-Champaign) was \u201cQuo vadis, Chem Ed?\u201d. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"parent":99,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"
Reflecting Back, Marching Forward<\/h3>- The 4th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education was held in 1976 at the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison. The closing talk at that conference (presented by Gilbert Haight) was \u201cQuo vadis, Chem Ed?\u201d (\u201cWhere are you marching, Chem Ed?). The phrase <\/span>Quo vadis?<\/span><\/i> is used to ask about someone's decisions, ambitions, or purpose. Fifty years later, we intend to respond unequivocally to that question with \u201cforward\u201d.<\/span><\/li>
- That said, to look toward what we imagine for the future of Chemistry Education, we must simultaneously reflect back and learn from the past.<\/span><\/li><\/ul>
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Thematic Framework<\/h3>- The 4th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education was held in 1976 at the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison. The closing talk at that conference (presented by Gilbert Haight) was \u201cQuo vadis, Chem Ed?\u201d (\u201cWhere are you marching, Chem Ed?). The phrase <\/span>Quo vadis?<\/span><\/i> is used to ask about someone's decisions, ambitions, or purpose. Fifty years later, we intend to respond unequivocally to that question with \u201cforward\u201d.<\/span><\/li>
- That said, to look toward to what we imagine for the future of Chemistry Education, we must simultaneously reflect back and learn from the past.<\/span><\/li>
- The thematic framework for the 2026 BCCE has two dimensions: Conference Contexts and Intersectional Attributes. <\/span>Conference Contexts <\/span><\/i>are areas where Chemistry Education has made important contributions AND has the potential to grow and innovate. <\/span>Intersectional Attributes <\/span><\/i>are more traditional articulations that can be used to define contributions across the <\/span>Conference Contexts<\/span><\/i>. To help you see how your work might fit, the Program Committee has provided a short description of each <\/span>Conference Context <\/span><\/i>and several examples of symposia that could fit within that Context along with their associated <\/span>Intersectional Attributes.<\/span><\/i><\/li><\/ul>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-103","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conferences.union.wisc.edu\/bcce2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conferences.union.wisc.edu\/bcce2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conferences.union.wisc.edu\/bcce2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conferences.union.wisc.edu\/bcce2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conferences.union.wisc.edu\/bcce2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/conferences.union.wisc.edu\/bcce2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":863,"href":"https:\/\/conferences.union.wisc.edu\/bcce2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103\/revisions\/863"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conferences.union.wisc.edu\/bcce2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/99"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conferences.union.wisc.edu\/bcce2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Reflecting Back, Marching Forward<\/span><\/h1>\n