Bridget Burns

But but here are the seven institutions, limited resources, potentially millions of students, millions of people to be served. And I just kept seeing elbows thrown and I kept seeing unnecessary. It was just really difficult to get universities to be on the same page. So this is when I really fall in love with the just the tension between competition and collaboration in higher ed.

But but here are the seven institutions, limited resources, potentially millions of students, millions of people to be served. And I just kept seeing elbows thrown and I kept seeing unnecessary. It was just really difficult to get universities to be on the same page. So this is when I really fall in love with the just the tension between competition and collaboration in higher ed.

And then I go through a transition where I had heard all of these things about innovation. I'd been I was ready to transition. And I just wanted to know if innovation and higher ed was real or if it was fake and marketing and PR. And in the state that I live and the institutions I've been working with for the past prior decade, I didn't see real innovation.

And then I go through a transition where I had heard all of these things about innovation. I'd been I was ready to transition. And I just wanted to know if innovation and higher ed was real or if it was fake and marketing and PR. And in the state that I live and the institutions I've been working with for the past prior decade, I didn't see real innovation.

I thought that all this messaging I saw out there, you know, I was just curious about it. And so I left and I was able to be an American Council on Education fellow, which is like baby president school. And you shadow a university president for a year.

I thought that all this messaging I saw out there, you know, I was just curious about it. And so I left and I was able to be an American Council on Education fellow, which is like baby president school. And you shadow a university president for a year.

And I happened to get the chance to shadow Michael Crow, the president of Arizona State, which is a very transformative experience because he's the most innovative leader in higher education. And to have this background of understanding the difference between the student perspective and how to run these institutions, I've really seen this tension around collaboration and competition.

And I happened to get the chance to shadow Michael Crow, the president of Arizona State, which is a very transformative experience because he's the most innovative leader in higher education. And to have this background of understanding the difference between the student perspective and how to run these institutions, I've really seen this tension around collaboration and competition.

And now I see this other dimension, which is why are some institutions able to drive change and why are some not? And is it like, why do I go to institutions and I went to more than 50? And I would ask the senior leaders about what they were doing that was interesting and innovative, but I would also ask what an institution near them was doing.

And now I see this other dimension, which is why are some institutions able to drive change and why are some not? And is it like, why do I go to institutions and I went to more than 50? And I would ask the senior leaders about what they were doing that was interesting and innovative, but I would also ask what an institution near them was doing.

And I noticed that nobody had an answer to that second question. And so it, for me, unveiled that there was a real diffusion of innovation problem. Like, we don't know what other people are doing. We don't know if what we're doing is any good. We don't know how to copy what other people are doing. We don't know how to scale it. There's not a method for scale, like all of that.

And I noticed that nobody had an answer to that second question. And so it, for me, unveiled that there was a real diffusion of innovation problem. Like, we don't know what other people are doing. We don't know if what we're doing is any good. We don't know how to copy what other people are doing. We don't know how to scale it. There's not a method for scale, like all of that.

And so all of those things combined really lead to where I am now, which is by the conclusion of my ACE fellowship, the idea of the University Innovation Alliance was Michael Crow's. And I happened to show up with a unique skill set of telling presidents what to do and organizing them and supporting them. because I was the former chief of staff for the university system.

And so all of those things combined really lead to where I am now, which is by the conclusion of my ACE fellowship, the idea of the University Innovation Alliance was Michael Crow's. And I happened to show up with a unique skill set of telling presidents what to do and organizing them and supporting them. because I was the former chief of staff for the university system.

And so building the University Innovation Alliance was the ultimate kind of, it was like the ascension for me. It was merging this focus on user-centered design and thinking about the perspective of students and why the student experience is not what it needs to be. The complexity of overseeing institutions, especially in a climate that's rapidly changing,

And so building the University Innovation Alliance was the ultimate kind of, it was like the ascension for me. It was merging this focus on user-centered design and thinking about the perspective of students and why the student experience is not what it needs to be. The complexity of overseeing institutions, especially in a climate that's rapidly changing,

rapid innovation and figuring out how to get universities to work together and try and accelerate innovation by collaboration. So the University Innovation Alliance is what I launched by the end of my ACE fellowship. And I've been for 10 years now at the UIA. I'm the CEO. And to describe what we do is...

rapid innovation and figuring out how to get universities to work together and try and accelerate innovation by collaboration. So the University Innovation Alliance is what I launched by the end of my ACE fellowship. And I've been for 10 years now at the UIA. I'm the CEO. And to describe what we do is...

It was founded by a group of university presidents who decided to unite around a shared sense of urgency that we were doing a terrible job as a country when it comes to graduating students, especially from low-income, first-generation, and student of color backgrounds. And we have 4,000 to 7,000 universities, depending on what you measure.

It was founded by a group of university presidents who decided to unite around a shared sense of urgency that we were doing a terrible job as a country when it comes to graduating students, especially from low-income, first-generation, and student of color backgrounds. And we have 4,000 to 7,000 universities, depending on what you measure.