50th Annual CRLA Conference

The College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA) is pleased to announce its 50th Annual Conference, November 1-4, 2017 at the Westin Convention Center, Pittsburgh. Watch this site for more information as it is made available.

The 2017 CRLA conference theme— Celebrating 50 Years of Building Bridges — makes reference to Pittsburgh’s famous bridges which are the integral part of the city’s skyline. For a half-century, we, a community of reading and learning researchers and practitioners, have been building bridges across a plethora of frontiers to enhance student academic success. In our everyday work, we cross geographic, cultural, and socio-economic borders; merge disciplinary and technological boundaries; overcome age and language differences; and narrow gaps in high school, college, and career transitions. Join our festive celebration of CRLA’s 50th jubilee in Pittsburgh, a city of bridges!


To view the 2017 Call to Conference, use this link.

Interested in serving as a conference volunteer?

If yes, CRLA would love to have your help on-site in Pittsburgh. Please contact Lisa Sharfstein, 2017 CRLA On-Site Chair (lrsharfstein@carlow.edu) with your intent to serve as a volunteer. Examples of volunteer areas include the following: Dinner on the Town Guides, Ticket Collectors, Media Team Members, and Registration Desk Helpers.

Local Vendor Opportunities

For our 50th Annual Conference, we are inviting vendors from the Pittsburgh area to join us in our exhibit area in the Westin on Friday, November 3, 2017, from 10:00 am to 2 pm. We are seeking local vendors and artists with unique products that will give our attendees an opportunity to bring a piece of Pittsburgh home with them to display, use, or wear. We will supply a 6 foot table and two chairs, and displays must be table top only.

The cost of a booth is $50, and we ask that you donate one item to our annual raffle to raise funds for scholarships to attend the conference and other professional development opportunities.

Please fill out the Vendor Registration Form to register.

Save the Date

February 1 Call for Proposals Opens
April 3 Proposals Due
June 1 Proposal Acceptance Notice
July 5 Call to Conference
July 5 Registration Opens
August 16 Presenter Registration Deadline*
September 14 Exhibitor Application Deadline
September 15 Early Registration Deadline
November 1-4 Annual Conference

*Unregistered presenters’ names will not appear in the program and the presentation will be cancelled in case there are no other registered co-presenters for that presentation.