Student-Led Conferences

The Public Affairs Conference (PAC) is the oldest student-led conference in the United States. With a few exceptions, the conference has occurred annually since its inception in 1939. Principia students take responsibility for all aspects of planning and running the conference, from choosing the topic to inviting the speakers and coordinating logistics. 

Throughout the three-day conference, students and other attendees from a wide range of colleges and universities hear talks by experts and meet with them in workshops to discuss current topics such as cybercrime, globalization, terrorism, and genetics. Recent conferences have focused on peacebuilding, youth empowerment, sustainability, social entrepreneurship, innovation, and media as a tool for social change. 

The conference in April 2024 is titled "Beyond the Hype: Navigating AI's Brave New World."

• Visit Principia College PAC 2024 Site

IPC 2022—People, Planet & Prosperity: Journeying Towards Intersectional Sustainability

VISIT IPC WEBSITE

Background on the International Perspectives Conference

For fifteen years, Principia held a student-run Pan-African Conference focusing on issues of concern to the people of the African Diaspora and celebrating the African continent's rich cultural diversity.

With the rapid growth of globalization and the increased interconnectedness between nations from all parts of the globe, the student body recognized a need to broaden the scope of the conference. With this in mind, it was renamed the International Perspectives Conference (IPC) in 2014. The inaugural IPC was titled "At a Crossroads: Globalization and Culture."

In the fall of 2015, the second annual IPC, titled "Empowerment as Equals," addressed equality as it stretches across gender, religion, and ethnicity. Speakers drew on their experiences in Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, India, and France to provide insight, educate, and inspire conference attendees. The 2016 IPC conference, titled "From Conflict to Peace," featured speakers from the United States State Department and NGOs as well as international law experts. The 2017 IPC was titled “Undoing Stereotypes about African Peoples and Cultures: Indigenizing Education.” Dr. Daniel Sekepe Matjila, Director of the Centre for Pan African Languages and Cultural Development at the University of South Africa, was one of the featured speakers.