The SAP University Alliances Academic Board for North America invites you to submit a proposal for a presentation on novel research using SAP, or innovative teaching cases using SAP University Alliances resources, or mentoring/development of your SAP academic initiative. All submissions will be peer reviewed, and proceedings will be published after the conference via the SAP University Alliances community. Best teaching cases will be invited to collaborate with the SAP University Alliances global curriculum team.

The SAP Academic Conference Americas annually brings together academics from over 150 universities, primarily from the Americas, but also from universities around the world. The event shares SAP’s strategic direction and showcases opportunities to leverage SAP solutions and SAP University Alliances offerings to enhance students’ academic and career outcomes.

Conference Overview:
Day 1: keynote presentations, breakout sessions, and “meet the expert” tables. Attendees learn:
- how customers leverage SAP solutions for Platform, Applications, Business Networks, and User Experience to transition into digital businesses with new business models, digitizing their core operations, managing their total workforce and reimagining their customer experience
- the latest academic offerings from SAP University Alliances
- best practices to build industry partnerships including with the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) for curriculum advisement and recruiting of students and graduates
- opportunities to join new initiatives such as the SAP “Research for Academia Business Network,” the SAP “Youth Consulting Business Network,” and the “Global Business Network for Skills, Certifications, and Jobs for the Digital Transformation: Academy Cube.”
Day 2: new format this year…peer reviewed presentations by faculty.

Focus for Faculty Presentations:
One of the goals of the parallel research, teaching, and mentoring presentations and panels is to attract new and seasoned SAP University Alliances members with valuable peer learning opportunities to share innovations with colleagues with a focus on actionable takeaways. Presentations should focus on the problem or opportunity; the innovation to solve the problem or realize the opportunity; examples of practical application of the innovation; and suggestions for faculty adoption.

Research Contributions:
We invite research papers that are valuable to the SAP University Alliances community from all disciplines related but not limited to the following topics of interest:
- Academic Program Development
- Analytics and Data Science
- Business Networks
- Cloud Computing
- Customer Relationship Management
- Digital Enterprises
- ERP related concepts
- Human Capital Management
- Industry 4.0
- In-Memory Computing
- Internet of Things
- Mobile Applications
- Research on Pedagogy
- Supply Chain Management
- User Experience (UX) and Design Thinking
- Any other topics that may be relevant to the SAP UA community

After a peer review of the submissions, selected research contributions will be presented orally or as a poster and then be posted as an extended abstract with no copyright to ensure that the authors may further develop their research ideas for journal submission.

Teaching Contributions:
We invite contributions to teaching either full courses or individual class modules using SAP to teach academic content in any discipline. Modifications and extensions of existing SAP University Alliances curriculum are also welcome. Ideal contributions should include demonstrations and course materials that the audience can implement in their own classes. Submissions could fit under one or more of the following content areas:
- Accounting and Finance
- Business Intelligence and Analytics
- Business Process Management and ERP
- Cloud Solutions
- Computer Science and IT
- Electronic Commerce
- Human Capital Management
- Marketing and CRM
- Operations and SCM
- Project Management
- SAP HANA
- SAP Mobile
- User Experience (UX) and Design Thinking
- New Curriculum Topics (Business Networks, Digital Enterprises, Industry 4.0, Internet of Things,…)

After a peer review of all submissions, selected teaching contributions will be presented orally in tracks grouped by academic discipline or by product or in a poster session. Contribution materials may take a variety of formats (e.g. videos, lecture capture, slides, exercises and/or datasets) which will subsequently be published via the SAP University Alliances community, accessible only to SAP University Alliances members, to add to the library of community contributed curriculum that supplements SAP University Alliances global curriculum.

Mentoring Panel Contributions:
We invite proposals for panels on topics of interest to the SAP University Alliances community. Suggested topics may include but are not limited to the following:
- Advice for new members on getting started with SAP University Alliances
- Lessons learned in academic program development processes
- The benefits of adding SAP student recognition and certification opportunities, and how to reach these milestones
- Experiences with accreditation assessment / assurance of learning plans
- Industry connection development / placement of interns & graduates
- Attracting research funding leveraging letters of support from SAP University Alliances
- Junior faculty member development…how to find synergies between teaching and research
- Innovative teaching and research approaches to reach the digital natives in our classrooms

Requirements and Dates:
Please send a 1-2 page abstract of your proposed presentation that includes the following details:
+ Title, speaker names, emails and affiliations indicating who the corresponding author is
+ One paragraph profile / bio for each speaker
+ The contribution type; Research, Teaching or Mentoring Presentation
+ An overview of the presentation and who will benefit from attending
+ A list of keywords
+ A description of the materials that can be shared with the UA community, (e.g. assignment files, datasets, videos, or other documentation)
+ Presenters should plan for approximately 20-30 min long speaking slots. If your proposed presentation needs more time, you should indicate this upon submission of the abstract.
+ Submissions should be sent as .doc or .pdf files to uap.na@sap.com by October 2, 2015.
+ Selected presenters will be notified by November 6, 2015.
+ For those selected to present, final presentation materials need to be submitted by January 22, 2016.
+ Presentations will be Thursday, February 18, 2016 in San Diego, California, USA

Questions? Contact the academic program chair at m.bliemel@dal.ca or the event organizer at uap.na@sap.com

Information on the SAP Academic Conference Americas Event Leaders:
The SAP University Alliances Academic Board for North America is composed of academics collaborating with SAP with the vision to be the premier leader elevating SAP academic innovation and success. It coordinates efforts between SAP University Alliances, member schools and faculty in the following areas:
+ Increase visibility of member programs within the SAP ecosystem (customers, partners)
+ Encourage and support faculty led research
+ Adapt SAP technology and resources for academic curriculum at both graduate and undergraduate levels
+ Ensure events such as the SAP Academic Conference and SAP University Alliances faculty workshops continue to provide opportunities to faculty to learn and integrate the latest SAP software and University Alliances curriculum into academic programs
+ Build pipelines to ensure new faculty are successful

Academic Program Chair for the SAP Academic Conference Americas 2016:
Dr. Michael Bliemel, Dalhousie University

Academic Program Co-chairs for the SAP Academic Conference Americas 2016:
Dr. Yvonne Antonucci, Widener University
Dr. Tom Case, Georgia Southern University
Dr. David Douglas, University of Arkansas
Dr. Pierre-Majorique Léger, HEC Montréal

Industry Program Chair
Ann Rosenberg, vice president and Head of Global SAP University Alliances

Event Organizer
Colleen Raftery, SAP University Alliances, North American Marketing and Operations

The CFP and other Conference Information will be available on http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-65737