Join us for TYCA-SE 2020: Hindsight, Foresight, Insight

February 19-22, 2020

Just outside of the bustle of the city, Decatur, GA is one of Atlanta’s friendliest neighborhoods and this year, Decatur is host to the TYCA-SE 2020 Conference.  Our conference theme 2020: Hindsight, Foresight, and Insight invites us all to look back at our success and the lessons we have learned, look forward to the future of our profession and education, and look inward to what inspires us and helps our students succeed.

Be sure to arrive in time for our opening session as our opening speaker’s novels speak to all three aspects of our conference theme. Thomas Mullen’s works range in genre from historical fiction to dystopian thrillers, and each one offers new insights into human nature.  Set in 1948 Atlanta, Darktown and Lightening Men explore murder, police corruption, and race relations in the city’s first African-American police department.  His other works include The Last Town on Earth and The Revisionists.

On Thursday, get red carpet ready and join us to celebrate the “Hollywood of the South” at our trivia party.  Walk the red carpet and prepare to test your knowledge of film, television, and music tied to Atlanta. Bring your trivia team or sign up at the conference desk to be teamed up and make new friends.

Our Friday luncheon speaker, Tayari Jones is author of four novels. Her most recent work, American Marriage, is an Oprah’s Book Club Selection and appeared on Barak Obama’s summer reading list and his end of the year roundup.  Her third novel, Silver Sparrow was added to the NEA Big Read Library of Classics in 2016.

On Friday evening, grab your friends and enjoy one of Decatur’s great restaurants, bars, and shops all located within walking distance or hop in a car and head to Ponce City Market to explore one of the city’s most vibrant food halls and markets located in the historic Sears, Roebuck, & Co. building in Atlanta.  We know you’ll find something to love in Decatur, and we can’t wait to welcome you here!

Make your reservations for TYCA-SE 2020 Conference by January 29, 2020 to ensure the conference rate of $165.00 per night.

Courtyard Atlanta Decatur Downtown/ Emory
130 Clairemont Avenue
Decatur, GA 30030

For phone reservations, be sure to ask for the TYCA-SE 2020 Southeast Regional Conference room block.
Marriott Central Reservations: 888-236-2427
Courtyard Decatur Front Desk: 404-371-0204
Or make online reservations using this link: 
Book your group rate for TYCA-SE 2020 Southeast Regional Conference

2020 Conference Speakers

Thomas Mullen is the author of Darktown, an NPR Best Book of the Year, which was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Southern Book Prize, the Indies Choice Book Award, and nominated for two CWA Dagger Awards, and its sequelLightning Men, which was named one of the Top 10 Crime Novels of 2017 by The New York Times Book Review.

He is also the author of The Last Town on Earth, which was named Best Debut Novel of 2006 by USA Today and was awarded the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for excellence in historical fiction; The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers; and The Revisionists. His works have been named to Year’s Best lists by The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kirkus Reviews, The Onion’s A/V Club, The San Diego Union-Times, Paste Magazine, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, and Amazon. His stories and essays have been published in Grantland, Paste, The Huffington Post, and Atlanta Magazine. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and sons.

New York Times best-selling author, Tayari Jones, is the author of the novels Leaving Atlanta, The Untelling, and Silver Sparrow.Her most recent novel, An American Marriage, was the winner of the 2019 Indies Book Choice Award, Indies Champion Award, 2019 Black Caucus American Library Association Literary Award for Fiction, 2018 Book of the Year by Apple Books, 2018 Time Magazine Best Fiction of 2018, and Oprah’s Book Club.Her writing has appeared in Tin House, The Believer, The New York Times, and Callaloo. 

A member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, she has also been a recipient of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, Lifetime Achievement Award in Fine Arts from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, United States Artist Fellowship, NEA Fellowship and Radcliffe Institute Bunting Fellowship. She was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2018 and was named to EbonyMagazine’s 2018 Power 100 List.  Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, University of Iowa, and Arizona State University. She is a Professor of Creative Writing at Emory University.

Conference Schedule

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

10:00am-4:00pm
REC Meeting

5:00-7:00pm
Registration

5:00-7:30pm
REC Dinner

8:30pm-Midnight
Chair’s Reception

Thursday, February 20, 2020

8:00am-5:00pm
Registration

9:00am-12:00pm
Pre-Conference Workshop: Student Success and Digital Literacy across Your Curriculum—A Hands-on Adobe Workshop with Todd Taylor

10:00am-5:00pm
Publishers’ Exhibits

1:00-3:00pm
Opening Plenary Session with Thomas Mullen

3:00-5:00pm
Voting for REC Candidates

3:15-4:00pm
Concurrent Session I

4:15-5:45pm
Cowan/Doster Awards Session & Reception sponsored by Fountainhead Press

7:00-9:00pm
Welcome to Georgia Party sponsored by Adobe

Friday, February 21, 2020 

7:00-8:30am
Continental Breakfast sponsored by Macmillan

8:00am-5:00pm
Registration

8:00am-5:00pm
Publishers’ Exhibits

8:00-11:00am
Voting for REC Candidates

8:00-8:45am
Concurrent Session II

9:00-9:45am
Concurrent Session III

10:00-10:45am
Concurrent Session IV

11:00-11:45am
State Meetings

12:00-2:00pm
Luncheon with Tayari Jones sponsored by W.W. Norton

2:15-3:00pm
Concurrent Session V

3:15-4:00pm
Concurrent Session VI

4:15-5:00pm
REC Meeting, Chair's Suite

Saturday, February 22, 2020 

7:30-8:30am
Continental Breakfast sponsored by Macmillan

8:00-10:30am
Publishers’ Exhibits

8:30-9:15am
Concurrent Session VII

9:30-10:15am
Concurrent Session VIII

10:30am-12:00pm
Closing Session