University Innovation Alliance is a national coalition of public research universities committed to increasing the number and diversity of college graduates in the U.S.
“Innovation and my institutions have united around a sense of urgency that they wanted to do a better job helping students graduate specifically from low-income, first-generation, and students of color backgrounds,” says Bridget Burns, executive director of the organization.
She adds, “We wanted to do it together because they were all working on these issues and they wanted to not waste time, energy, and money by working alone. We innovate together. We scale up what works and we diffuse what we learned to the world in hopes to galvanize transformation in the sector.”
Burns does note that the events of 2020 have been eye-opening. “We’ve always been on the journey to improve our institutions and make them more student-centered. And I think that this past year really made it clear just how ‘un’ student centered institutions were.”
That realization has led institutions to be more authentic. Burns says, “I also think people dropped the kind of fancy complex that higher ed can often have.”
She continues, “I think that if you really want to help universities make transformational change, they have to start by admitting they don’t have it right. Institutions can’t pretend, cannot BS your way, and say that you have it all figured out, and you knew how to do digital learning.”
“’Yes, we’ve done virtual zoom, professional engagement, and we’ve run virtual teams.’ No, we didn’t know any of those things. The vulnerability required to navigate the last year meant that institutions were more honest about what they were struggling with. I think that means that we have far greater opportunity for transformational change. If we can admit we all have the same problems, then we don’t have to all go it alone and can work together to truly achieve the kind of change necessary for the future of our democracy.”
Click here to learn more about University Innovation Alliance.
WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Burns in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.
Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.
Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard
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Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.
Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.
Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.
Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.
Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.
Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.
