Institutes
AAC&U Institutes offer opportunities for teams and individuals to develop and exchange best practices in support of advancing campus change initiatives.
Women in Leadership Institutes
Registration Open Now | Starts November 28
The Women in Leadership Institutes equip participants to lead more courageously, vulnerably, and effectively. They offer dedicated time among a community of women leaders focused on serving students and fulfilling higher education's promise of individual transformation. These Institutes are offered in partnership with Credo, a higher education consulting firm focusing on strategy and student success.
Institute on ePortfolios
Applications closed
ePortfolios—digital repositories of student work—allow faculty and other educational professionals to help students organize, preserve the forms of, and reflect upon their
learning. In this yearlong institute, participants discover how to best ideate,
design, and implement ePortfolios according to their unique needs. Teams of
administrators, educators, and student leaders develop and then actualize an
ePortfolio strategy under the guidance of institute faculty, identifying and
addressing challenges as they arise. This institute is ideal for any campus,
state system, or consortium aiming to redesign learning for students using
ePortfolios.
Institute on Virtual Exchange / Collaborative Online International Learning
Applications closed
Through institutional self-assessment, campus visits, peer networking, and mentored support, the AAC&U Institute on Virtual Exchange/Collaborative Online International Learning (VE/COIL) helps higher education institutions develop the foundational knowledge and skills necessary to pursue sustainable VE/COIL partnerships.
Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) STEM Leadership Institute
Applications closed
Forward-looking institutions recognize the value of cultivating leadership capacity among STEM
faculty and administrators. To this end, the PKAL STEM Leadership Institute
empowers STEM faculty, principal investigators, and administrators to recognize
their leadership strengths, navigate change politics, address conflicts,
and restructure the institutional systems that limit America’s capacity for
global competitiveness in STEM fields. Through experiential learning,
reflection, and the simulation of diverse lived experiences, participants gain
the skills and tools to embrace difference, initiate social change, and guide
reform in undergraduate STEM education.
Institute on Teaching to Increase Diversity and Equity in STEM (TIDES)
Registration closed | Join the waitlist!
The changing demographic landscape of higher education demands that colleges and
universities adapt more daring approaches to institutional change that are
equally evidence-based and culturally responsive. This transformative event
sensitizes STEM reformers to how institutional systems and
structures disproportionately disadvantage STEM faculty, students of color,
and other marginalized groups. It emphasizes accountability through critical
questioning, critique, deep reflection, and introspection of self, department,
and institution.
Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success
Applications closed
Research shows that students involved in high-impact practices (HIPs) enjoy higher
levels of learning success. These evidence-based practices include service
learning, undergraduate research, and internships—to name a few. AAC&U’s
Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success helps campus teams
refine and assess their HIPs, emphasizing quality, equity, and student
engagement. Attendees participate in intentional reflection on institutional
outcomes, develop comprehensive action plans, and have individualized
consultations with HIPs faculty. The institute helps campus and system-level
teams create sustainable student success goals and monitor progress toward
achieving equity to improve educational outcomes for all students.
Institute on Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers
Applications closed
Colleges and universities have a unique opportunity to prepare the next generation of leaders to address enduring social challenges. Among the most urgent of these is confronting how racism and bias have shaped our nation’s communities and institutions, leaving deep wounds of distrust, discrimination, and division in their wake. AAC&U is partnering with higher education institutions to develop TRHT Campus Centers to prepare the next generation of strategic leaders and critical thinkers to promote racial healing and to catalyze efforts to address current inequities grounded in notions of a racial hierarchy. As a national, community-based initiative, the TRHT effort launched by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation seeks to address the historical and contemporary impacts of race and racism within our communities. Each TRHT Campus Center prioritizes expansive, community-based healing activities that seek to change collective community narratives and broaden the understanding of our diverse experiences.
Curriculum-to-Career Innovations Institute
Applications closed
Through a focus on curricular and cocurricular alignment, defined learning and skill development, and high-impact experiences, campus teams will engage with experts from higher education and industry to advance curriculum-based projects that promote
equity and student success through meaningful career preparation. The
Institute’s approach to innovation emphasizes design-thinking, broad and
inclusive interdisciplinary perspectives, collaboration across stakeholders,
and systemic commitments to the equity that prepare students to seek purpose across
an array of career paths.
Institute on Open Educational Resources
Applications closed
Open educational resources (OER), such as textbooks freely available through an open
license, help narrow performance gaps, reduce failure rates, and level the
academic playing field. Through the yearlong online Institute on OER,
participating teams gain the skills needed to design, launch, expand, and
hasten their own campus OER plans for large-scale engagement and adoption.
Teams interact with expert consultants and participate in regular webinars and
planning sessions.
Institute on General Education and Assessment
Applications closed
With a sharp focus on equal access to excellence in higher education, the Institute
on General Education, Pedagogy, and Assessment help campus leadership teams
reimagine and redesign programming to advance student learning and assessment.
Participants explore proven strategies to provide career-relevant experiences,
integrate general education within majors, craft programs that link student
learning with today’s pressing social issues, and accurately evaluate program
efficacy.
Institute on Teaching and Learning for Campus-Wide Interfaith Excellence
Applications closed
In bringing people together across lines of religious difference, a campus serves
as both a laboratory and a model for how diverse societies can thrive and as a
launching pad for the next generation of leaders who can transform diversity
into engaged and productive pluralism. The annual Institute on Teaching and
Learning for Campus-wide Interfaith Excellence focuses on the integration of
interfaith cooperation into campus life and on the development of civic
interfaith leaders.
Institute on Engaged and Integrative Learning
Applications closed
Today’s college graduates must be able to integrate knowledge and skills and apply them within real-world settings for work, life, and citizenship.
AAC&U’s Institute on Engaged and Integrative Learning helps campus teams
develop strategies and advance institutional-level efforts to embed engaged and
integrative learning across student on and off-campus experiences. Teams will
explore innovative approaches to community engagement, integrative, experiential, and global learning.