University Innovation Alliance

UIC is a member of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA), the leading national coalition of public research universities committed to increasing the number and diversity of college graduates in the United States.

UIA is a multi-campus laboratory for student success innovation that helps university leaders, philanthropists, and policymakers accelerate the implementation of scalable solutions to increase the number and diversity of college graduates. Founded in 2014 by a group of pioneering university chancellors and presidents committed to breaking down silos to collaboration and testing, sharing, and scaling ideas that can help more students succeed, our members span the geographic diversity of the US and enroll more than 450,000 students, 170,000 of whom are students of color and 140,000 of whom are Pell recipients.

UIC joined the UIA in 2022.

UIA institutions are committed to collaborating together and sharing what’s working – and what’s not – to remove barriers for students, faster. We do so by testing and verifying new methods of improving student success on individual campuses. We share what we’re learning and iterate to improve our design. Then we replicate successes on new campuses, and we document and share those successes so others can repeat.

• Member institutions
• University Innovation Alliance grows to 17 schools

Each UIA institution has a core team of campus leaders who collaborate and innovate with the other UIA institutions on student success strategies.

The UIA Board includes the presidents and chancellors of our member institutions. Led by a chair and vice chair, the UIA Board provides strategic guidance to UIA’s Executive Director.

UIA Liaisons are respected campus leaders skilled in change management and guided by data and national best practices who sponsor and spearhead innovative UIA and student success initiatives on their campus.

The UIC UIA Fellow shepherds UIC’s involvement in the UIA and works closely with university leadership to lead, support, and assess student success initiatives to increase retention and graduation and minimize the achievement gap.