Event Overview - 2027 Aspiring Educators Conference & Early Career Retreat

Please join us for the 2027 IEA Aspiring Educators Conference and Early Career Retreat, Feb 26-27, 2027, at the The Q Center St. Charles, Illinois. This event is specifically designed for Aspiring Educators and and IEA Early Career members (K-12 teachers, ESPs, and higher education members in their first 10 years in the profession). Our Spring event is hosted and planned by the IEA Aspiring Educators State Executive Team and Early Career Committee members from across the state. Aspiring Educators and Early Career Educators will gather to collaborate and network, learn about union activism and engagement, and participate in PD sessions designed by educators, for educators.

Additionally, we will be joined by Obama’s former US Secretary of Education, Dr. John King, in a conversation lead by IEA Aspiring Ed and Early Career members. The event will kick off at 5:30PM on Friday with dinner, followed by a social event. The Aspiring Educators Executive Team will host the 3rd Annual Union's Choice Awards, and the Early Career Committee will host an evening networking social. Saturday will be packed full of functional and relevant information to support your work in the classroom and how the incredibly important work of a union can energize you and your peers to make positive change in your school and community. Professional Development Hours will be offered for applicable sessions. The event will conclude at 3:45PM on Saturday afternoon.

We hope you will be able to join us! For more information about the 2027 IEA Aspiring Educators Conference and Early Career Retreat, please direct your contact to Dr. Lindsey Jensen at lindsey.jensen@ieanea.org. For Aspiring Educator questions, please reach out to State AE Chairperson Emma Pekkarinen at Emma.Pekkarinen@ieanea.org.

For Early Career Committee questions, please reach out to Committee Chair Dylan Toth at EarlyCareer@ieanea.org.

John B. King Jr. served in President Barack Obama’s cabinet as the tenth U.S. Secretary of Education. Over the course of his extensive and influential career in public education, he has been a high school social studies teacher, a middle school principal, the first African American and Puerto Rican to serve as New York State Education Commissioner, a college professor, and the president and CEO of the Education Trust, a national education civil rights organization.

King is currently the chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY), the nation’s largest comprehensive system of public higher education. Both of King’s parents were career New York City public school educators. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, an education researcher and former teacher, and his two daughters.