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Entirely Online
July 19 - 24, 2026
Please note that the video and audio feeds in all sessions are recorded. The Foundation for Critical Thinking reserves the right to publish the resulting footage in whole or in part for any purpose. By attending the event, you agree to said recording and publication.
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About the Conference |
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and reevaluate how we work and live. In short, the power of the mind to command itself – to regularly engage in self-analysis and self-evaluation – will increasingly determine the quality of our work, learning, and lives. 
work the ideas of critical thinking into your reasoning framework through discussion and activities.
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| Registration Options | Fees | |||
| Registration Options | Rates per Person | |||
| Early-Bird Registration | $295 | |||
| Standard Registration | $350 | |||
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This year's Focal Sessions are live online workshops led by Fellows and Scholars of the Foundation for Critical Thinking. These sessions are "Focal" because they focus on the foundations, or the central 
ideas, in a rich conception of critical thinking. Each Focal Session targets one or more vital concepts or sets of principles in critical thinking, often in connection with essential applications of critical thinking.
Dr. Gerald Nosich is a noted authority on critical thinking and has given more than 250 workshops to instructors and governmental agencies on all aspects of teaching it. He is the author of Critical Writing: Using the Concepts and Processes of Critical Thinking to Write a Paper, Learning to Think Things Through: A Guide to Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum , and Reasons and Arguments .
Dr. Nosich has given workshops for instructors at all levels of education in the United States, Canada, Thailand, Lithuania, Austria, Germany, Singapore and England. He has worked with the U.S. Department of Education on a project for a National Assessment of Higher Order Thinking Skills; given teleconferences sponsored by PBS and Starlink on teaching for critical thinking; served as a consultant for ACT in Critical Thinking and Language Arts assessment; and been featured as a Noted Scholar at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Nosich is author of numerous articles, audio- and videotapes on critical thinking. He has been Assistant Director at the Center for Critical Thinking at Sonoma State University, and is Professor Emeritus at SUNY Buffalo and the University of New Orleans.
Dr. Carmen Polka has worked diligently to infuse critical thinking into her classroom instruction, curriculum, and assessment for nearly twenty years. Focused on transforming education through the implementation of quality instructional practices, Dr. Polka instigated and co-authored the Colorado Academic State Standards targeting research and reasoning based on the Paul-Elder framework. As a leader and critical thinking expert in her district, she led professional development and coached K-12 teachers to effectively utilize Paulian theory.
Dr. Polka is currently a principal at an elementary school, and she recently earned her doctorate in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program at the University of Northern Colorado. She is also a licensed K-12 Special Education teacher.
For nearly twenty years, Dr. Bankes has played an important leadership role in fostering the Paulian conception of critical thinking in multiple school districts. As a principal, he led the implementation of this critical thinking approach to bring about state-recognized levels of achievement in three different Title I schools – a high school, a middle school, and an elementary school. He helped author the reasoning portion of the Colorado Academic Standards that are based on the Paul-Elder framework. In addition to his administrative experience, Dr. Bankes was an elementary school teacher, continues teaching critical thinking courses at the college level, and served as a Director on his School Board of Education.
Dr. Brian Barnes Dr. Brian Barnes holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Humanities and an MA in Philosophy from the University of Louisville. Barnes is a veteran of the US Army, along with other non-academic careers, and currently teaches face-to-face and online classes at several universities in traditional philosophy topics, sustainability, and critical thinking. He has co-authored articles examining critical thinking strategies and tactics for the National Teaching and Learning Forum and is author of the textbook, The Central Question: Critical Engagement with Business Ethics . Barnes co-hosts the weekly radio show, Critical Thinking for Everyone!, on 106.5 Forward Radio in Louisville; he also created Adventures in Critical Thinking , a critical thinking comic book series.
Dr. Linda Tym Dr. Linda Tym has 20 years of experience working in higher education at six different institutions in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. She is currently Chair and Associate Professor of English at Burman University. In addition to her focus on fairminded critical thinking in education, her research focuses on memory studies, Scottish literature, and Scottish-Canadian diasporic literature. Her work has been published in the Scottish Literary Review , Journal of the Short Story in English , Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks: Gender series, and Gale Cengage’s Contemporary Literary Criticism series.
Dr. Tym completed her Ph.D. in English Literature at the University of Edinburgh and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, and has pursued professional training in Cultural Intelligence; Emotional Intelligence; and Bowen Systems Theory.
Dr. Lynne Willett
Dr. Lynne Willett is a seasoned human-resources professional with a career characterized by leadership roles across diverse industries, including construction, transportation, manufacturing, and agriculture. She has served as a labor relations professional, and as a coach and mentor to senior and executive-level leaders. She is also an Assistant Professor in the M.S. in Human Resources Program at the University of Wisconsin–Stout, where she is designing a course on critical thinking for the Operations and Management Department and the STEM+M College.
Dr. Willett holds an MBA, a DBA in Business and Organizational Leadership, and an SPHR credential. She continues to develop long-term plans to bring critical thinking to community leaders; her current work focuses on disciplined reasoning and ethical leadership in complex organizational environments.
Dr. Steve Atkins
Steve Atkins, Ph.D. is a retired senior higher-education administrator whose career spanned community colleges, state universities, and health sciences institutions, with a sustained focus on critical thinking, institutional effectiveness, assessment, and accreditation. He served in executive leadership roles including Dean of Institutional Effectiveness, Vice President and District Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment, and Dean of Arts and Sciences, where he led institution-wide assessment systems, Quality Enhancement Plans, faculty development initiatives, and curriculum reforms that embedded critical thinking into teaching, learning, and decision-making.
Dr. Atkins directed a nationally-recognized Quality Enhancement Plan that received an Excellence in Critical Thinking Award at the Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and has served as a lead evaluator for QEPs and accreditation teams. He continues to consult with colleges and schools on critical thinking initiatives, learning outcomes assessment, and institutional improvement.
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Welcome & Keynote Address
Focal Session I Begins
New Attendees Choose One…
Focal Session I Continued
Focal Session III
Choose One…
