The International Conference on Physics Undergraduate Education will be held from July 31 to August 3, 1996, at the University of Maryland, College Park. The conference is sponsored by the University of Maryland, the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Physical Society, and the American Institute of Physics, and it will concentrate on the changing role of physics education in the contemporary university. Major issues of the conference are (1) The physics baccalaureate as a passport to the workplace; (2) Physics in the service of students in other sciences and engineering; (3) The physics department's responsibility in pre- and in-service education of teachers. Underlying themes are the (1) changing goals for contemporary students; (2) results of educational research; (4) role of technology in the educational process; (4) challenge to educate all students equitably. The conference is directed by an International Advisory Board who will develop the program and speakers list, and will consist of plenary sessions addressing the issues, poster sessions, and sample classes demonstrating the most innovative and exciting new university physics classes being developed in the world today. The results will be published as a summary and recommendations. The outcome will be a better understanding of the best of physics education throughout the world and a group of about 400 participants who have seen and experienced these developments first hand and can use and build on them.
