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The Copenhaver Institute

June 23-25, 2025

Please join us for the 2025 conference. This year's theme is Teaching Well: Finding the Intersection of Required Curricula and Creative Pedagogy. This year’s institute will be held in person on the Roanoke College campus.

Register online

Keynote Speakers

  • Angela Watson

    Angela Watson

  • Trevor Muir

    Trevor Muir

  • Shamari Reid

    Shamari Read

About the Conference

Participants attend a three-day professional development program; lodging is available and included in the Institute fee. 

The program includes:

  • KEYNOTE SESSIONS: Presentation of research-based “best practices” offered by leading educational scholars
  • BREAKOUT AND DISCUSSION SESSIONS: Translation of theory into practical strategies relevant to today's classrooms.
  • COLLABORATIVE CELEBRATION: Opportunities for collegial interaction and celebratory validation of the education profession.
  • BOOK: Six weeks prior to the Institute, participants will receive "The Epic Classroom" authored by keynote speaker, Trevor Muir. The book will provide a starting point for discussion point during the Institute.  

The 2025 conference will focus on:

  • Cultivating innovative mindsets within the context of required curricula.
  • Prioritizing educator well-being amidst the current educational landscape.
  • Exploring pedagogical possibilities relevant to participants’ contexts.
  • Fostering student engagement at the intersection of fundamental curricula and creativity.

About The Copenhaver Institute

The Margaret Sue Copenhaver Institute for Teaching and Learning provides quality professional development opportunities for PreK-12 teachers and administrators and for Roanoke College students. The Institute's emphases include:

  • Consideration of cutting-edge perspectives relevant to the teaching profession;
  • Determination of personal and practical ways to engage students as lifelong learners; and
  • Examination of a variety of multimedia and instructional technology strategies and tools for enhancing students' growth as learners.

The Institute gives PreK-12 teachers the opportunity to develop and practice strategies for effective instruction in cooperation with the nation's leading educational scholars.