Program Overview
Why IMPACT Fellows? Why Now?
Higher education is not suffering from a shortage of evidence. Colleges and universities have access to unprecedented amounts of information about student learning, student success, workforce readiness, stakeholder expectations, enrollment trends, organizational performance, accountability requirements, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. However, many institutions continue to face a different challenge: transforming evidence into innovative action that creates meaningful and measurable impact.
The challenge facing higher education today is not simply generating evidence. The challenge is developing leaders who can translate evidence into strategic insight, transform insight into innovation, guide innovation through implementation, and demonstrate meaningful impact. As institutions respond to technological disruption, demographic shifts, changing expectations regarding educational value, workforce demands, and increasing public accountability, they need professionals who can move beyond analysis toward action. Evidence alone does not solve institutional challenges. Institutions need leaders who can use evidence to imagine new possibilities, mobilize stakeholders, lead change, and deliver results. The IMPACT Fellows Program was created to address this need.
Offered jointly by the Assessment Institute in Indianapolis at Indiana University Indianapolis and the Center for Assessment and Research Studies (CARS) at James Madison University, IMPACT Fellows is a selective national fellowship designed to cultivate a growing cadre of evidence-informed innovation leaders capable of advancing meaningful institutional change. The fellowship bridges a persistent gap between evidence generation and institutional transformation. By combining the Assessment Institute's extensive professional community, national visibility, and dissemination platforms with CARS' longstanding expertise in assessment research, educational measurement, program evaluation, and professional development, IMPACT Fellows provides a distinctive environment in which evidence and innovation work together to create meaningful institutional impact.
More than a professional development experience, IMPACT Fellows serves as a strategic investment in institutional innovation. Every Fellow enters the program with a significant Innovation Challenge Project connected to institutional priorities and leaves with practical experience leading and facilitating evidence-informed innovation efforts designed to create value for students, institutions, and the broader higher education community.
Purpose
The purpose of the IMPACT Fellows Program is to develop a national network of higher education professionals who can transform evidence into action and action into meaningful impact. The fellowship prepares participants to:
- Generate strategic insight from evidence.
- Identify opportunities for innovation.
- Design and test solutions aligned with institutional priorities.
- Lead and facilitate implementation efforts in complex organizational environments.
- Evaluate and communicate meaningful progress and impact.
- Build institutional capacity for evidence-informed innovation.
- Contribute to a growing collaborative network of professionals committed to innovation, leadership, and organizational learning.
What Is IMPACT Fellows?
IMPACT Fellows is a selective leadership development and innovation fellowship for higher education professionals who are responsible for translating evidence into meaningful institutional action. Rather than focusing solely on learning about leadership or innovation, the fellowship provides participants with a structured opportunity to apply evidence, lead change, implement innovation, and demonstrate impact through a significant institutionally aligned Innovation Challenge Project. Through the Four-I Framework of Insight, Innovation, Implementation, and Impact, Fellows strengthen their ability to lead evidence-informed innovation efforts that advance institutional priorities and create value for students, colleagues, and institutions.
Why the Assessment Institute-CARS Partnership Matters
IMPACT Fellows exists because meaningful institutional innovation requires both evidence and action. The Assessment Institute in Indianapolis and the Center for Assessment and Research Studies (CARS) each bring complementary strengths that, when combined, create a distinctive environment for developing innovation leaders in higher education.
- For more than three decades, the Assessment Institute in Indianapolis has served as a national convenor for professionals committed to improving learning, student success, institutional effectiveness, and organizational improvement. Its broad professional network, national visibility, and dissemination platforms—annual Institute conference, international conference, webinars, podcast, periodical, and book series—provide Fellows with exceptional opportunities to learn from and contribute to the field. Stephen P. Hundley serves as the Assessment Institute lead for IMPACT Fellows.
- Since its founding in 1988, CARS has contributed deep expertise in assessment research, educational measurement, evaluation, and evidence-informed decision making through a broad range of activities, including workshops and events and bespoke consulting. Through CARS, Fellows gain access to research-informed approaches for generating insight, evaluating innovation, and demonstrating impact. Megan R. Good and Keston H. Fulcher serve as CARS leads for IMPACT Fellows.
- Together, the Assessment Institute and CARS bridge a longstanding gap in higher education between generating evidence and creating meaningful institutional change. IMPACT Fellows was specifically designed to operate at this intersection, helping participants transform insights into innovation, innovation into implementation, and implementation into impact.
Who Is an IMPACT Fellow?
IMPACT Fellows is designed for professionals who are positioned to influence meaningful change in their respective sphere(s) of influence and who possess the support necessary to lead innovation initiatives within their institutions. Competitive applicants may include faculty leaders, department chairs, program directors, student affairs professionals, student success leaders, assessment professionals, institutional effectiveness leaders, institutional researchers, educational developers, academic administrators, strategic planning leaders, and both emerging and established higher education leaders. What unites Fellows is not a common title or functional area. Rather, it is a commitment to leveraging evidence, exercising leadership, and advancing innovation in service of institutional priorities and stakeholder success.
The fellowship seeks to intentionally bring together participants from diverse institutional types, functional areas, and leadership roles. This interdisciplinary model reflects the reality that the most significant challenges facing higher education rarely reside within a single office, division, profession, or discipline. Indeed, innovation requires collaboration across boundaries, and Fellows learn from one another while building a national professional network committed to evidence-informed innovation.
What Makes IMPACT Fellows Distinctive?
Many leadership programs emphasize learning while many conferences emphasize knowledge sharing. Few experiences require participants to identify a significant institutional challenge, design an innovation informed by evidence, implement that innovation within their institution, evaluate its effectiveness, and share resulting lessons with a national audience. IMPACT Fellows was designed around a simple but ambitious proposition: higher education needs more than information; it needs leaders capable of transforming evidence into innovation and innovation into measurable impact. The fellowship brings together five distinctive elements:
1. A Signature Four-I Framework: Insight, Innovation, Implementation, and Impact
Evidence serves as the foundation beneath all four stages. The framework functions not merely as a conceptual model but as a practical methodology for institutional transformation. While many institutions excel at collecting and analyzing evidence, relatively few possess a systematic process for translating evidence into innovation and measurable outcomes. The Four-I Framework provides that bridge:
- Insight involves generating meaning from evidence.
- Innovation focuses on designing purposeful responses informed by evidence and institutional priorities.
- Implementation centers on translating ideas into practice.
- Impact focuses on determining what difference was made by evaluating progress and outcomes.
2. Innovation Challenge Projects: Defining Innovation Through Action
The Innovation Challenge Project serves as the centerpiece of the fellowship experience. Rather than completing a hypothetical exercise, each Fellow develops, implements, evaluates, and disseminates an evidence-informed innovation initiative aligned with an important institutional opportunity, challenge, or strategic priority. Within IMPACT Fellows, innovation is defined as the intentional creation, adaptation, scaling, or application of ideas, practices, technologies, partnerships, processes, or organizational approaches that generate meaningful value within a specific institutional context. Successful projects demonstrate strategic relevance, institutional support, feasibility, and the potential to create observable value. Innovation may involve:
- Adapting successful practices for new populations or environments.
- Scaling promising pilot initiatives.
- Leveraging artificial intelligence or emerging technologies.
- Redesigning institutional processes, services, or structures.
- Creating new forms of collaboration or partnership.
- Developing innovative approaches to learning, student success, workforce readiness, or institutional effectiveness.
3. Selective Admission
IMPACT Fellows is intentionally designed as a selective national fellowship rather than an open-enrollment program. Applications are reviewed through a competitive process that considers leadership potential, project quality, institutional commitment, alignment with fellowship goals, and potential for organizational impact. Cohort size is intentionally limited to support meaningful interaction, individualized consultation, collaborative learning, and sustained engagement among Fellows. Successful applicants earn the designation of IMPACT Fellow and become members of a national network of evidence-informed innovation leaders.
4. Cohort-Based Leadership Development
Fellows participate in a national cohort that supports learning through peer consultation, coaching/mentoring, collaborative problem solving, and facilitation by subject-matter-experts. The experience is designed to strengthen innovation leadership while creating a trusted network of colleagues committed to advancing change across higher education.
5. Integration Within a National Innovation Ecosystem
Participation in IMPACT Fellows extends beyond the fellowship curriculum itself. Fellows become part of a broader innovation ecosystem that connects them to practitioners, scholars, researchers, innovators, and institutional leaders across higher education. This ecosystem is designed to support Fellows during the fellowship experience and to provide professional relationships, learning opportunities, and dissemination pathways that extend well beyond the completion of the program. Through the combined networks of the Assessment Institute in Indianapolis and CARS, Fellows gain access to:
- Peer consultation and collaboration opportunities.
- Nationally recognized experts in assessment, innovation, leadership, and organizational change.
- Dissemination pathways through presentations, webinars, publications, podcasts, and professional learning events.
- Cross-institutional perspectives and promising practices.
- Opportunities to contribute to a growing network of evidence-informed innovation leaders.
The Inaugural IMPACT Fellows Cohort
The 2027-2028 cohort will serve as the Inaugural IMPACT Fellows Cohort. As founding participants in the fellowship, Inaugural IMPACT Fellows will help establish the culture, traditions, practices, and professional community that will shape future generations of IMPACT Fellows. The inaugural cohort will serve as a collaborative thought partner in the continued evolution of the fellowship. Throughout the experience, Fellows will have opportunities to provide structured feedback regarding program content, learning activities, coaching and mentoring approaches, community-building strategies, dissemination opportunities, and the overall fellowship experience.
The Innovation Challenge Project
The Innovation Challenge Project serves as the centerpiece of the fellowship experience. Each Fellow identifies a significant institutional opportunity or challenge and develops an evidence-informed innovation initiative within their local context. Potential project examples include developing AI governance frameworks, redesigning gateway-course success initiatives, launching workforce-readiness micro-credentials, improving transfer-student success, reimagining advising systems, strengthening faculty development, advancing institutional effectiveness, supporting strategic planning efforts, and enhancing community engagement. Through coaching and mentorship provided by leaders associated with both the Assessment Institute and CARS, Fellows receive support in project design, implementation, evaluation, dissemination, and leadership development. During the fellowship experience, Fellows are expected to:
- Generate insight from evidence.
- Design an innovative institutional response.
- Implement an initiative, pilot, intervention, or strategy.
- Evaluate resulting progress, outcomes, and impacts.
- Share lessons learned with institutional colleagues and the broader higher education community.
Coaching, Mentoring, and Consultation
Throughout the fellowship experience, Fellows receive structured support through a combination of faculty guidance, project consultation, peer feedback, coaching conversations, and access to subject-matter experts. Support is intentionally designed to balance individualized guidance with collaborative learning, enabling Fellows to navigate project design, implementation challenges, stakeholder engagement, evaluation planning, communication strategies, dissemination efforts, and sustainability considerations.
What Does Successful Completion Look Like?
Participating institutions benefit from increased innovation capacity, advancement of strategic priorities, stronger evidence-informed decision making, and practical insights that can inform future organizational improvement efforts. By the conclusion of the fellowship, successful Fellows will have:
- Translated evidence into informed institutional action.
- Designed and advanced an Innovation Challenge Project aligned with institutional priorities.
- Engaged stakeholders and navigated implementation challenges.
- Generated credible evidence documenting progress, outcomes, lessons learned, and future opportunities.
- Shared their work through institutional and professional dissemination activities.
- Developed capacity to lead and facilitate future innovation and change initiatives.
Program Structure and Timeline
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Timeframe
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Activities
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October 15, 2026
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- IMPACT Fellows program announced in advance of the 2026 Assessment Institute in Indianapolis.
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December 3, 2026
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- IMPACT Fellows information session held via Zoom from 1:00-1:45 PM (Eastern).
- Save these Zoom connection details to your calendar (a recording of this session will also be posted to the IMPACT Fellows section of the Assessment Institute’s website): https://iu.zoom.us/j/86096958800
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March 31, 2027
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- Application deadline: candidates submit a narrative application, senior leader commitment letter, and preliminary Innovation Challenge Project concept.
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April 30, 2027
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- Selected Fellows are notified following a competitive review process.
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August and September 2027
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- Virtual onboarding and orientation sessions introduce Fellows to one another, establish expectations, facilitate project planning, and provide foundational preparation in the Four-I Framework.
- Needs analysis conducted to inform monthly topics and coaching, mentoring, and consultation requirements related to potential Innovation Challenge Projects.
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October 2027
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- Fellows participate in an immersive IMPACT Fellows Pre-Institute Workshop held in conjunction with the 2027 Assessment Institute in Indianapolis, which is held October 24-26, 2027, at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown (in-person attendance is required of Fellows).
- Schedule of monthly topics and speakers published.
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November 2027 through June 2028
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- Monthly Zoom-based fellowship sessions feature faculty facilitation, guest experts, project consultation, peer coaching, and resource sharing. Informed by the needs analysis conducted during the virtual onboarding sessions, topics may include:
- Evidence-Informed Innovation and the Four-I Framework
- Leading Change in Higher Education
- Design Thinking and Human-Centered Innovation
- Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies
- Stakeholder Engagement and Coalition Building
- Implementation Planning and Project Management
- Demonstrating Impact and Evaluating Progress
- Strategic Communication and Storytelling
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July 2028
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- Preparation for Virtual IMPACT Innovation Showcase.
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August 2028
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- Virtual IMPACT Innovation Showcase featuring updates on project progress and outcomes, lessons learned, and future directions.
- Fellows present to each other in small groups and use feedback to inform future dissemination planning.
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September 2028
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- Presentation preparation and dissemination planning.
- Fellows develop materials for conferences, publications, webinars, podcasts, and related professional engagement opportunities.
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October 2028
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- Capstone Experience during the Assessment Institute in Indianapolis, which is held October 29-31, 2028, at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown (in-person attendance is required of Fellows).
- Fellows present their Innovation Challenge Projects and evidence of impact to the broader higher education community.
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Institutional Financial Commitment
The IMPACT Fellows Program is intentionally structured to promote meaningful institutional commitment while minimizing barriers to participation. Participation in IMPACT Fellows does not require a separate fellowship fee. Instead, the Fellow's home institution is expected to support participation by covering:
- Registration for the Assessment Institute in Indianapolis in 2027 and 2028.
- Associated travel expenses.
- Associated lodging expenses.
Institutions are also expected to support the Fellow's active engagement in the program and implementation of the Innovation Challenge Project. Such institutional commitment reflects an investment in leadership development, innovation, and organizational improvement. It signals that senior leaders believe the proposed Innovation Challenge Project aligns with institutional priorities and warrants organizational support.
What Every Fellow Produces
A defining feature of IMPACT Fellows is its emphasis on tangible outcomes. The fellowship is designed not only to develop leaders, but also to generate innovations that create meaningful value for institutions and the broader higher education community. By the conclusion of the fellowship experience, every IMPACT Fellow is expected to produce:
- An Innovation Challenge Project: A substantial evidence-informed innovation initiative aligned with a significant institutional opportunity, challenge, or strategic priority.
- An Implementation Strategy: A practical approach for stakeholder engagement, communication, resource alignment, organizational change, and sustainability.
- Evidence of Impact: Credible evidence which demonstrates progress, outcomes, lessons learned, and implications for future action.
- A Dissemination and Presentation Portfolio: Professional contributions that may include conference presentations, publications, webinars, podcasts, toolkits, case studies, showcase presentations, or related dissemination activities, including presentation of project outcomes during the 2028 Assessment Institute in Indianapolis.
Benefits and Return on Investment
Institutions supporting an IMPACT Fellow receive more than individual professional development. IMPACT Fellows integrates leadership development with innovative practices through a project-based model focused on real organizational opportunities and challenges. Expected benefits include:
- Progress toward strategic priorities.
- Increased innovation and change-leadership capacity.
- Stronger evidence-informed decision making.
- Expanded implementation and evaluation expertise.
- Development of future institutional leaders.
- Access to a national network of innovation leaders.
- Enhanced visibility through dissemination activities.
- Demonstrable organizational learning and impact.
Beyond the Fellowship
Completion of the fellowship marks the beginning rather than the end of participation in the IMPACT Fellows network. As the fellowship evolves, alumni will help shape future cohorts while continuing to contribute innovations, emerging practices, professional expertise, and institutional learning to the broader higher education community. IMPACT Fellow alumni may remain engaged as:
- Mentors and coaches
- Authors and presenters
- Facilitators and peer consultants
- Fellowship faculty and innovation advisors
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Fellows will be selected each year?
IMPACT Fellows is intentionally designed as a selective national fellowship. Cohort size may vary based on applicant quality, program capacity, and available resources. The program is structured to maintain a highly interactive learning environment that supports coaching, consultation, and meaningful cohort engagement.
What makes the inaugural cohort unique?
The 2027-2028 cohort will serve as the Inaugural IMPACT Fellows Cohort. In addition to participating fully in the fellowship experience, inaugural Fellows will help shape the future development of the program through structured feedback, reflection, and collaboration with fellowship leadership. As a result, inaugural Fellows will have a unique opportunity to influence both their own institutions and the future direction of a national fellowship dedicated to evidence-informed innovation in higher education.
How much time commitment is expected?
Fellows should anticipate sustained engagement throughout the Fellow experience, with an expected commitment of approximately 8-10 hours/month. Participation includes virtual onboarding and orientation activities, monthly fellowship sessions, coaching and peer consultation opportunities, Innovation Challenge Project development and implementation activities, dissemination planning, and capstone presentations. In addition, Fellows are expected to participate in key in-person experiences associated with the Assessment Institute in Indianapolis. This includes attendance at the IMPACT Fellows Pre-Institute Workshop held in conjunction with the 2027 Assessment Institute in Indianapolis, participation in the broader 2027 Assessment Institute experience, and attendance at the 2028 Assessment Institute in Indianapolis, where Fellows will participate in capstone activities and present the outcomes of their Innovation Challenge Projects. The precise time commitment will vary depending on the scope of the Innovation Challenge Project and the Fellow's institutional context. Applicants are encouraged to discuss participation expectations with their institutional sponsors before applying.
What constitutes an appropriate Innovation Challenge Project?
Innovation Challenge Projects should address significant institutional opportunities, challenges, or strategic priorities. Projects should be evidence-informed, aligned with institutional goals, and capable of generating meaningful value and measurable outcomes. Appropriate projects may focus on areas such as student success, learning innovation, artificial intelligence, organizational effectiveness, workforce readiness, institutional strategy, community engagement, enrollment management, or related areas. Successful projects need not transform an entire institution; however, they should demonstrate thoughtful innovation, meaningful implementation, and evidence-informed impact.
What deliverables are required to complete the fellowship?
All Fellows are expected to complete an Innovation Challenge Project, participate actively in fellowship activities, develop evidence of impact, contribute to dissemination efforts, and present project outcomes during fellowship showcase opportunities. Importantly, the fellowship recognizes that innovation initiatives often operate on timelines that extend beyond the fellowship experience. For some projects, evidence of impact may include sustained outcomes and comprehensive evaluation results. For others, particularly projects involving organizational change, new technologies, policy development, or multi-year implementation efforts, evidence may consist of formative findings, pilot results, implementation milestones, stakeholder feedback, lessons learned, work-in-progress outcomes, or other indicators demonstrating progress toward intended goals. While Fellows are not expected to demonstrate that every project has reached full maturity by the conclusion of the fellowship, they are expected to provide credible evidence that the innovation has progressed through the Four-I Framework and has generated meaningful learning and actionable next steps for continued implementation.
What happens if my Innovation Challenge Project encounters obstacles?
Innovation initiatives frequently encounter implementation barriers, competing priorities, organizational changes, resource constraints, or shifting conditions. The fellowship recognizes these realities and views adaptation as an important component of innovation leadership. Fellows receive coaching, consultation, and peer support to help navigate challenges, adjust strategies, and identify appropriate next steps.
Who serves as fellowship faculty, mentors, and coaches?
Fellowship faculty will include leaders associated with the Assessment Institute in Indianapolis, CARS, and selected members of the National Advisory Board of the Center for Leading Improvements in Higher Education. Fellows can expect a combination of cohort-based facilitation, project consultation, coaching conversations, and mentorship from experts whose experience aligns with their Innovation Challenge Projects.
What financial commitment is required from the Fellow’s home institutions?
A Fellow’s home institution supports participation in both the opening and closing Assessment Institute in Indianapolis experiences in 2027 and 2028, respectively, including registration, travel, and lodging expenses for each year. Institutions are also expected to support implementation of the Innovation Challenge Project and the Fellow's engagement in the program.
How is IMPACT Fellows different from other leadership development programs?
Many leadership programs focus primarily on professional growth, networking, or leadership theory. IMPACT Fellows combines leadership development with the design, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of a significant institutional innovation initiative. Participants are expected to generate tangible outcomes that advance institutional priorities.
How selective is the fellowship?
Applications are reviewed based on leadership potential, institutional support, project quality, alignment with fellowship goals, and potential for impact. The fellowship seeks individuals who demonstrate both the capacity and commitment to lead meaningful innovation efforts.
Can Teams Apply?
Yes. IMPACT Fellows welcomes applications from both individuals and teams. In many cases, institutional innovation initiatives are most successful when advanced by a group of colleagues who bring complementary expertise, perspectives, and spheres of influence. Whether applying as an individual or as a team, all participants are expected to engage fully in the fellowship experience and contribute meaningfully to the Innovation Challenge Project. For team-based applications, each team member must receive the same level of institutional commitment and support. This includes confirmation from the home institution that each team member will receive funding to participate in both the 2027 and 2028 Assessment Institute in Indianapolis, including registration, travel, and lodging expenses, as well as appropriate organizational support to actively engage in the fellowship and advance the Innovation Challenge Project.
How Do I Apply for IMPACT Fellows?
Please see the application package section for details about applying to be an IMPACT Fellow. Applications are due by Wednesday, March 31, 2027, and notifications of acceptance decisions will be shared by Friday, April 30, 2027. To learn more, consider attending the IMPACT Fellows information session on December 3, 2026, held via Zoom from 1:00-1:45 PM (Eastern). Save these Zoom connection details to your calendar (a recording of this session will also be posted to the IMPACT Fellows section of the Assessment Institute’s website): https://iu.zoom.us/j/86096958800
IMPACT Fellows Application Package
The IMPACT Fellows application process is designed to help reviewers identify individuals and teams with the leadership capacity, institutional support, and innovative ideas necessary to advance meaningful institutional change through evidence-informed innovation. The application serves as the first stage of the fellowship experience by encouraging applicants to clarify their leadership aspirations, define a proposed Innovation Challenge Project, and secure institutional commitment for participation and implementation. Applications consist of three parts:
- Applicant Information
- Narrative Application (maximum 1,500 words total)
- Institutional Commitment and Support Letter
Characteristics of Strong IMPACT Fellows Applications
The strongest applications make a compelling case that participation in IMPACT Fellows will support individual or team development, along with advancing evidence-informed innovations. Strong applications generally:
- Address meaningful institutional opportunities, challenges, or strategic priorities.
- Demonstrate clear leadership support and institutional commitment.
- Apply evidence to inform innovation and decision making.
- Present ambitious yet realistic project concepts.
- Show potential to generate meaningful organizational learning and impact.
- Demonstrate thoughtful consideration of implementation challenges and opportunities.
- Include plans for dissemination and contribution to the broader higher education community.
- Reflect the values of the Four-I Framework: Insight, Innovation, Implementation, and Impact.
Application
Part 1: Applicant Information
Individual Applicant Information
Applicants should provide:
- Name
- Title/Position
- Institution
- Email Address
- Phone Number
- Years of Professional Experience in Higher Education
- Brief Professional Biography (150 words maximum)
Team Applicant Information
Institutions may submit team applications when a collaborative approach is expected to strengthen implementation, institutional learning, and impact. Teams should provide:
- Team Name (optional)
- Institution
- Designated Team Lead/Primary Contact
- Names and Titles of All Team Members
- Email Addresses of All Team Members
- Brief Description of Each Team Member's Role in the Project (150 words maximum per person)
Part 2: Narrative Application
Maximum Total Narrative Length: 1,500 Words
Question 1: Leadership and Institutional Context (Maximum 500 Words)
Describe the institutional opportunity, challenge, or strategic priority that you hope to address through your proposed Innovation Challenge Project. Please briefly discuss:
- Why the issue matters within your institutional context.
- How it aligns with institutional priorities, goals, or strategic initiatives.
- Why you (or your team) are well positioned to advance this work.
- What support currently exists within your institution to help move the project forward.
Question 2: Innovation and Implementation (Maximum 500 Words)
Describe the Innovation Challenge Project you propose to pursue through IMPACT Fellows. Please briefly discuss:
- The innovation, initiative, or approach you intend to design, adapt, scale, implement, or evaluate.
- What evidence, data, research, assessment findings, stakeholder input, or prior experience informed your thinking.
- What makes the proposed approach innovative within your institutional context.
- Key implementation opportunities, challenges, and success factors.
Note: Innovation does not require creating something entirely new. Projects may involve adapting proven practices, scaling promising pilots, leveraging emerging technologies, redesigning institutional processes, creating new partnerships, or developing new approaches to learning, student success, workforce readiness, institutional effectiveness, or organizational improvement.
Question 3: Impact and Contribution (Maximum 500 Words)
Describe the difference you hope the Innovation Challenge Project will make for your institution and what you hope to gain and contribute through participation in IMPACT Fellows. Please briefly discuss:
- The intended benefits, outcomes, or value the project could create.
- How you might recognize progress, success, or impact.
- How participation in IMPACT Fellows could strengthen your ability to lead innovation and change.
- How you intend to share lessons learned with colleagues, your institution, and the broader higher education community.
Note: Applicants are not expected to demonstrate that every aspect of the proposed project will be fully implemented within the fellowship period. Rather, applicants should describe how participation in IMPACT Fellows may help advance meaningful institutional learning, innovation, implementation, and impact.
Part 3: Institutional Commitment and Support Letter
A letter of support from an appropriate senior institutional leader is required:
- President
- Chancellor
- Provost
- Vice President
- Vice Chancellor
- Dean
- Associate Vice President
- Associate Vice Chancellor
- Other Senior Institutional Leader
The letter should be on institutional letterhead and briefly address the following areas:
- Institutional Alignment: the proposed Innovation Challenge Project aligns with institutional priorities, goals, initiatives, or strategic plans.
- Leadership Support: the letter should describe why the applicant (or team) is well positioned to participate in IMPACT Fellows and lead the proposed project.
- Financial Commitment: the letter must explicitly confirm institutional support for participation in both the 2027 and 2028 Assessment Institutes in Indianapolis, including support for registration, travel, and lodging.
- Any Other Information: as appropriate, the letter should include any additional details concerning how the institution will support the Fellow(s) and Innovation Challenge Project.
Apply to IMPACT Fellows
