Another Great Collegiate Aviation Education Conference in the Bag

And, what a great success it was. The conference was held at the Hilton in Memphis, Tennessee. Despite Hurricane Helene bearing down on the southern states, 300 collegiate aviation faculty, staff, industry supporters, and regulatory specialists filled the rooms to capacity to share their expertise.

Before the conference officially began, the UAA Board of Trustees held their annual in-person meeting, confirming the election results for the 2025 Officers and Trustees (see pages 12-14 ) A review of the financial management and growth of the association included UAA’s increase managed scholarships for other aviation associations, doubling the research poster award monies, and increasing monetary support for faculty to attend our Aviation Policy Seminar in Washington, D.C. 

The expanded three days of keynote speakers did not disappoint. Grant Colby, Director, Ground Safety at Piedmont Airlines, opened the first day. Corey Stephens, FAA – Office of Accident Investigation and Prevention followed. Thursday brought in Rick Leach, President & CEO of GoJet, who spent the entire day interacting with educators and students alike. And Friday’s powerhouse speaker was Shanetta Griffin, Associate Administrator of Airports for the FAA. The speakers set the tone for an excellent and informative conference.

Collegiate aviation educators continued the Wednesday event with tough choices of filling the meeting rooms to participate with world-class speakers for UAA Safety Infoshare and other workshops, or load the bus for this year’s often-requested EduTour. Memphis is the home to three aviation high schools. The bus, filled to capacity and with cars in tow, drove across town to three distinctly different education models for aviation programs; Collierville High School, Christian Brothers High School, and East High. Educators toured three facilities’ flight, maintenance, and drone programs. It was an impressive amount of energy, money and support provided to these youths that are the future of aviation.

Research presentations, and participation in leadership sessions and workshops were well received. Each presenter offered valuable and unique perspectives on aviation education. More than 40 education sessions gave thorough and captivating talks on issues concerning mental health, diversity and equity, aviation maintenance, and training performance. Two sessions of professional paper presentations and a research roundtable, a plethora of UAA committees met throughout the conference to address a broad range of issues and concerns affecting collegiate aviation. 

Networking events were peppered throughout the conference to aide attendees in making every minute of the conference productive. The three days were non-stop from a casual Students Lunch with Professionals to the glam Awards of Excellence. See you next year the 78th Annual Collegiate Aviation Education Conference & Expo in sunny Costa Mesa/Orange County, California.