Veritas Weekend
Gather with fellow student leaders to explore the ideas that shape our lives.
About Veritas Weekend
The video above features the 2019 Augustine Collective conference. Now the Augustine Collective is one track in the Veritas Weekend.
Veritas Weekend is the flagship student leadership conference of the Veritas Forum. The annual conference connects Christian students from universities across the country and provides training and discussion around integrating faith, scholarship, and life.
The 2026 Veritas Weekend will take place at The Boston Hilton Park Plaza from Friday, February 6th to Sunday, February 8th.
This year's theme is "All People Shall See It Together: A Christian Imagination for the University and the World." How might Christians think, dream, and imagine a better world in a time of turmoil? What might happen if we integrated the life of the mind with our embodied existence through an encounter with rich Christian traditions? How might the promised Spirit-led dreams and visions of Joel 2 fulfilled at Pentecost uniquely gift us to serve our universities and the world?
Join us as we invite God to capture our imaginations and send us outward in beautiful and unexpected ways.
Why You Should Attend
Veritas Weekend includes opportunities to:
Meet students involved with Veritas publications and forum planning from around the country!
Hear from and interact with speakers who love God and the university
Strategize with your team for the future efforts
Refine the practical skills necessary to build a thriving publication and/or plan a relevant, can't miss forum on your university campus
Worship and pray with a wider Christian community committed to the university and the world
(Not) Choosing Your Track
Historically, Veritas Weekend has consisted of two tracks to allow you to customize your experience to your area of campus leadership. Recognizing that Augustine Collective and Forums Leadership students are involved in the same joint project of seeking to love their universities by creating and contributing to the campus conversation, the majority of Weekend programming will be the same for both groups. Minor exceptions are noted in the schedule.
Countdown to the Conference
Speakers
Joint Session Speakers
Over the course of three days, our plenary speakers will address the theme "All People Shall See It Together: A Christian Imagination for the University and the World" from their specific areas of expertise.
Andy Crouch
Praxis
Andy Crouch
Praxis
Andy Crouch is partner for theology and culture at Praxis, a venture-building ecosystem advancing redemptive entrepreneurship. His writing explores faith, culture, and the image of God in the domains of technology, power, leadership, and the arts. He is the author of five books (plus another with his daughter, Amy Crouch): The Life We're Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World, The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place, Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing, Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power, and Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling.
Andy serves on the governing board of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. For more than ten years he was an editor and producer at Christianity Today, including serving as executive editor from 2012 to 2016. He served the John Templeton Foundation in 2017 as senior strategist for communication. His work and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing—and, most importantly, received a shout-out in Lecrae's 2014 single "Non-Fiction."
From 1998 to 2003, Andy was the editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly, a magazine for an emerging generation of culturally creative Christians. For ten years he was a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University. He studied classics at Cornell University and received an M.Div. summa cum laude from Boston University School of Theology. A classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz, and gospel, he has led musical worship for congregations of 5 to 20,000. He and his wife, Catherine, raised two children and live in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.
Justin Hawkins
Columbia University
Justin Hawkins
Columbia University
Justin recently completed his dissertation from Yale University’s Department of Religious Studies, where he studies virtue ethics and political theory. He is currently a researcher in bioethics at Columbia University Medical School.
Angel Adams Parham
University of Virginia
Angel Adams Parham
University of Virginia
Angel Adams Parham is Associate Professor of Sociology and senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. She is also the Associate Director for UVA’s major in Political and Social Thought where she equips students to examine transformations in political and social thought from antiquity through the present. Her research is in the area of historical sociology, engaging in inquiry that examines the past in order to better understand how to live well in the present and envision wisely for the future. She is the author of American Routes: Racial Palimpsests and the Transformation of Race (Oxford, 2017) which examines changes in race and racialization in New Orleans under the French, Spanish and Anglo-American administrations. The book was co-winner of the Social Science History Association’s Allan Sharlin Memorial book award (2018) and co-winner of the American Sociological Association’s Barrington Moore book award in comparative-historical sociology (2018). Her most recent book, co-authored with Anika Prather, was published in 2022 and is entitled The Black Intellectual Tradition: Reading Freedom in Classical Literature. Parham has published articles on the intersection of Black writers and the classics in popular outlets including the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Public Discourse, and Common Good Magazine. She is the co-founder and executive director of Nyansa Classical Community which provides curricula and programming designed to connect with K-12 students from diverse backgrounds, inviting them to take part in the Great Conversation, cultivate the moral imagination, and pursue truth, goodness, and beauty. Parham has been a member of the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, as well as the recipient of a Fulbright grant. She received her bachelor’s degree from Yale University and completed her doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Praveen Sethupathy
Cornell University
Praveen Sethupathy
Cornell University
Praveen is Professor of Physiological Genomics and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Cornell University. He leads a research lab focused on genome-scale and molecular approaches to understand physiology and human disease. Praveen received his BA degree from Cornell University and his PhD in Genomics from the University of Pennsylvania. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Human Genome Research Institute under the mentorship of the previous NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, he moved in 2011 to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics. The same year he was selected by Genome Technology as one of the nation’s top 25 rising young investigators in genomics. In 2017, he returned to Cornell University. Praveen has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals such as PNAS, Cell and Science and has served as a reviewer for over 50 different journals. Honors include a faculty merit award for outstanding teaching and mentoring, the prestigious American Diabetes Association Pathway To Stop Diabetes Research Accelerator (which is awarded to only three people per year), and the inaugural Boehringer Ingelheim Award for Excellence in Research Mentorship. Praveen is an advocate for thoughtful discussion at the interface of science and faith and has served on the advisory board of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), has served on the Board of BioLogos, is a frequent speaker for the Veritas Forum, and a mentor in the Veritas Faculty Scholars program.
More 2026 Speakers to Be Announced
Check Back Soon!
More 2026 Speakers to Be Announced
Check Back Soon!
More Speakers to Be Announced
Breakout Session Speakers and Staff
The Veritas Weekend breakout sessions will offer a more intimate context to dive deeper into this year's theme and receive practical tips on running Forum events and publishing AC journals. More speakers to be announced soon!
Peter Blair
DIRECTOR OF AUGUSTINE COLLECTIVE & VERITAS INSTITUTE, The Veritas Forum
Peter Blair
DIRECTOR OF AUGUSTINE COLLECTIVE & VERITAS INSTITUTE, The Veritas Forum
Peter serves as the Director of the Augustine Collective and Veritas Institute at The Veritas Forum, helping to support student publications at universities across the country. While attending Dartmouth College, he was the third editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth Apologia, one of the first publications in the Augustine Collective network. After graduating, Peter served as a writer and an editor at The American Interest, a magazine of politics and culture in Washington, DC. He then joined Thomistic Institute, an academic institute in DC, where he was the Campus Program Coordinator. Peter occasionally writes on a freelance basis, and he tweets at @PeterAWBlair.
Ashley Byrd
Director of Forums, The Veritas Forum
Ashley Byrd
Director of Forums, The Veritas Forum
Ashley Byrd is the Director of Forums and leads the effort to support campus partners to design and host forums that model discourse about life’s biggest questions across different worldviews characterized by intellectual humility and rigor. Previously, Ashley served as Regional Director for Veritas, where he coached planning teams in New York and New Jersey.
As a graduate of Columbia University, he developed a love for the campus that led him to serve students and faculty there as a Religious Life Advisor through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for 17 years. Ashley currently lives with his wife Carly and his daughters in Kailua, Hawaii.
Haley Robinson Fernandes
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS & STRATEGIC INITIATIVES, The Veritas Forum
Haley Robinson Fernandes
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS & STRATEGIC INITIATIVES, The Veritas Forum
Haley serves as the Director of Operations & Strategic Initiatives, where she facilitates strategic collaborative projects and works to implement the cohesion of Veritas Forum's operational systems. She brings experience as a Higher Education administrator and a consultant for nonprofit organizations. Haley holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and a MS in Nonprofit Management from Columbia University. She lives on Cape Cod with her husband and rescue dog Koda.
Moriah Hawkins
Augustine Collective Program Manager, The Veritas Forum
Moriah Hawkins
Augustine Collective Program Manager, The Veritas Forum
Moriah serves as Program Manager for the Augustine Collective at the Veritas Forum. Prior to joining Veritas, she was assistant editor at First Things, a journal of religion and public life in New York City. She holds a BA in English from Baylor University and an MAR in Religion and Literature from Yale Divinity School. Moriah currently lives in New Haven, Connecticut, where in her free time she enjoys kayaking in Connecticut’s many waterways.
Teal Wojcicki
University Engagement Director and Director of Student Development, The Veritas Forum
Teal Wojcicki
University Engagement Director and Director of Student Development, The Veritas Forum
Teal is University Engagement Director and Director of Student Development, Forums, for The Veritas Forum, jumping into Forum planning and student engagement with great excitement. After earning her BA in English at the University of Mary Washington, Teal earned her MA in Religion from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Teal spent a rewarding five years as a Ministry Fellow at Harvard University with Christian Union before joining the team. She lives with her husband Jeff north of Boston where they are always on the hunt for delicious coffee and new running routes.
More Speakers to be Announced
Check Back Soon!
More Speakers to be Announced
Check Back Soon!
More Speakers to be Announced
Conference Schedule
We look forward to three meaningful days together. If you are not a current student, your schedule may look slightly different and you will receive your tailored schedule prior to the conference. Please reach out to your main contact point at The Veritas Forum with any questions.
Below is the current schedule. Please note that some of the details may change before the conference begins.
dinner on your own
Lunch Off-Site
Forums Students: Lunch Session
Next Steps
Frequently Asked Questions
This year we are excited to announce that most programming will combine Augustine Collective and Forums students. Below you can find information relevant to you and your team as you plan to join us.
Basic Information
Veritas Weekend is The Veritas Forum’s flagship student leadership conference. It is a private, invitation-only event for students who are part of The Veritas Forum’s student community. This conference gathers invited students for a time of encouragement and equipping. During the conference, students interact with Christian scholars, writers, and artists, and share experiences with peers from other campuses.
Veritas Weekend is for two groups of students: The Augustine Collective (AC) students who are part of an AC journal and the Forums Leadership students who plan and execute Veritas Forum events on their campus.
Augustine Collective students are involved with a student publication that is officially affiliated with the Augustine Collective journal network, either as regular contributors or as official staff. Forums Leadership students lead or participate in teams that plan Veritas Forum events on their campus. Students who are not yet involved with an existing publication or Forums team but are seriously exploring involvement are also welcome to register for Veritas Weekend—as are invited students who are seriously considering starting a journal or Forum planning effort on their campus.
To meet, think, discuss, and pray with your fellow Veritas students from across the country? To hear from and interact with fantastic speakers? To strategize with your teams for the future? To acquire or refine the skills necessary to help build a thriving publication? To be inspired as you plan a forum for your campus? To renew your vision for the work you’re doing? Pick your reason! Whatever brings you to the conference, we’re thrilled to see you.
Want to learn more? Check out this promo video from a previous conference.
The full schedule is still to come, but you can see the current schedule above. It will conclude by noon on Sunday, February 98th, 2026. The weekend will consist of a mix of plenary sessions, breakout sessions, worship, time to connect as a team, and time for fellowship with students from other campuses across the country.
Check out our most up-to-date speaker list here.
The Boston Park Plaza Hotel will host this year’s conference. This 4-star hotel, located near the historic Boston Common, was recently renovated and features great meeting spaces for this growing event. Lodging at the Plaza will be guest rooms that hold two students with a separate bed for each.
The Park Plaza is a close walk from a few different T stops.
Park Plaza Hotel Address: 50 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116
- Monday, October 13, 2025: Registration Opens
- Monday, December 1, 2025 11:59 pm EST: Registration Closes
- Friday, December 5, 2025 11:59 pm EST: Final Admissions off Waitlist Issued and Decisions On Applications for Additional Financial Assistance Released
- Monday, December 8, 2025 11:59 pm EST: Travel Receipts for Student Purchased Travel Due
- Friday, February 6, 2025: Conference Begins
Cost and Travel Logistics
The Veritas student community is deeply important to us, and we are excited to invest in that community by covering the full cost of hosting Veritas Weekend and most of the costs of student attendance. All student attendees receive a subsidy from Veritas for half of their travel costs (up to $250).
Specifically, Veritas pays for:
- 100% of the costs of registration and lodging at the Boston Park Plaza;
- 50% of the cost of primary travel (up to a total cap of $250 per person);
- the full cost of breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, dinner on Saturday, and swag items.
All students are expected to pay for:
- the other 50% of the cost of their primary travel (and any travel insurance purchased),
- as well as the full cost of any additional ground transportation (taxi or subway to/from airport, etc.);
- the full cost of dinner on Friday evening, and, for Augustine Collective students, lunch on Saturday afternoon.
Additionally, any meals, snacks, or coffee purchased while traveling, any meals not provided as part of the official schedule, and any souvenirs or other incidental costs you incur in Boston will not be covered.
Two examples of the travel subsidy:
- If the cost of your train ticket is $220, Veritas will reimburse you $110 (as 50% of $220).
- If the cost of your plane ticket is $550, Veritas will reimburse you $250 (as 50% of $550 is $275, which exceeds the per-person cap of $250).
We do not want finances to be a barrier to anyone's attendance at the 2026 Veritas Weekend. All student attendees receive a subsidy from Veritas for half of their travel costs (up to $250). We recognize that some student attendees will require additional assistance for the remaining half of travel costs. Please use this application to request additional assistance at the time when you register for the conference.
Although registration is on a first come, first served basis, financial assistance applications will not be reviewed until after the close of registration. If we do not grant you sufficient financial assistance and you are not able to attend as a result, you may cancel your registration. (Please apply for financial assistance even if you are on the waitlist after registration.)
The travel reimbursement process for students who receive additional financial assistance:
- Like the rest of your team, send the money to purchase your ticket to your EiC or team point person, who will purchase travel for the whole group by the 12/8 deadline.
- Veritas will reimburse the EiC or point person for 1/2 the cost of everyone's travel on the team immediately after the deadline to submit receipts for reimbursement. The EiC or point person will then send that 1/2 back to everyone coming from your journal or team, including you, immediately.
- Separately, Veritas will send you a check for the additional financial assistance you have been granted.
If you have any questions, please email us at augustine@veritas.org for AC students or timothy@veritas.org for Forums students. As we have limited funds available for financial assistance, this application is meant for students who truly cannot attend Veritas Weekend without additional financial support. Thank you for understanding.
Your team should all take the same transportation method if at all possible. Schools are required to research and take the cheapest possible method of transportation that is realistically available to them. However, this is on “the honor system”—we do not need to confirm the option before you arrange travel.
Please work through your EiCs or point person to arrange and book travel. The steps of the process are:
1. Students register for the conference by 12/1.
2. The EiC or other designated point person will then confirm the travel method and cost with students from their school.
3. Conference attendees will pay the point person from their school.
4. Point person will purchase travel for the whole group (this should wait until after Sunday, December 7 if you are expecting someone from your school may be admitted off the waitlist or someone is waiting a decision on additional financial assistance).
5. Point person will submit one reimbursement form for the group by 12/8 at a forthcoming link.
6. Veritas reimburses the point person for half of the total travel immediately after 12/8.
7. The point person reimburses each individual member for half the cost of their travel from the funds received from the Veritas team.
If no one in the group is willing to be the point person in terms of purchasing, we ask that one person remain our point of contact but we will work with your school to arrange for individual reimbursement. Please email augustine@veritas.org (or timothy@veritas.org for Forums students) if this is the case for your school. Please note that though the first method outlined above is our ideal process, we are certainly willing to be flexible. We want to make sure that we are serving you and your team in your preparation for the conference, so you can always feel free to be in touch with us if different arrangements need to be made.
Note: If you are driving and we are reimbursing you for gas and parking, those receipts do not need to be submitted by December 9. They can be submitted after the weekend for ½ reimbursement (up to $250 per person). Those who are driving should plan to park their vehicles in the Boston Common Parking Garage (clearance of 6'3").
Note: If you need to come to the conference from a location other than your school, please contact us at augustine@veritas.org (or timothy@veritas.org for Forums students) in order to confirm that this is possible. We reserve the right to exercise discretion, particularly if coming from your preferred location is more expensive than coming from your school.
Tip: If you are flying or taking a train or bus into the Boston airport, please plan accordingly. The T (subway) in Boston will be much cheaper than a taxi/Uber/Lyft. The Silver Line from the airport to South Station is free; for more details see here and note that it seems the reverse trip from South Station to the Boston airport upon departure is not free.
Registration
Registration is on a first come, first served basis. We have a limited number of spots for registering students. Students who register in excess of our limit will be placed on our waitlist in case of cancellations or other circumstances. There will be a cap of 15 people per track (AC or Forums) per school in our registration period. We will admit the first 15 AC students from any given school as well as the first 15 Forums students from that same school. Anyone who registers from a school that already has 15 people registered to attend in their track will be put on the waitlist as well. We will admit additional students off the waitlist over the 15-person cap after the close of registration on a first come, first served basis.
Once you register, we will contact you to confirm whether you have secured a spot or to inform you that you have been placed on the waitlist. Even if you are aware you will be put on the waitlist, we encourage you to register anyway as we expect to be able to admit at least some people off the waitlist.
Please be aware that because space is limited at the conference, all registrations (for Forums or AC students alike) are subject to review and approval by Veritas staff. Furthermore, in case of a space limitation, we will prioritize registrations by students representing existing teams over those representing exploratory teams.
Our general expectation is that student attendees stay for the entire duration of the weekend, arriving between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday, February 6th and departing after 11 a.m. on Sunday, February 8th. If you have any concerns about staying for the whole weekend, please do let us know at augustine@veritas.org (or timothy@veritas.org for Forums students) and we can discuss it with you further.
Before the close of registration you may cancel your registration at any time by emailing augustine@veritas.org. However, our expectation is that anyone still registered by the Dec. 1 deadline plans to attend the conference.
Please note that if you do cancel for any non-emergency reasons after purchasing your travel, we will not reimburse you for any travel you purchased and will ask you to return any money received for your travel reimbursement. If a true emergency arises, such as a medical or family situation, you should cancel and we will still reimburse your travel. Please email us at augustine@veritas.org (or timothy@veritas.org for Forums students) if this situation applies to you.
Other Questions
The dress code is smart casual (and warm). You should bring any toiletries you would normally bring for a hotel stay. You may also wish to bring a water bottle, a notebook, a Bible or other devotional items, and any other items you’d want for a program of this kind. The event will likely involve walking outside, so be sure to bring shoes that are comfortable to walk in outside. For AC teams, your journal should bring copies of your journal's latest issue (and optionally, back issues too!) to trade with other campuses—ideally at least 50 copies.
Yes. We will provide more details closer to the event.
Yes. Conference registration will include a place to note this information.
If you have any additional questions, please email the Augustine Collective Conference team at augustine@veritas.org or the Forums team at timothy@veritas.org.
Register for the Conference
If you are not a current student, your registration will be handled separately and you will receive your registration form shortly if you haven't already. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to your main contact point at The Veritas Forum.
