The Colonial Academic Alliance launched the Innovate/Collaborate (IN/CO) grant program in 2017, intended to incentivize cross-institutional collaboration, encourage the development of new initiatives, and leverage the diversity of institutions in the Alliance. To date, the Alliance Provosts’ Council has awarded a total of $335,000 in IN/CO Grants over two rounds of funding.
Through the first round of IN/CO Grants, the Provosts’ Council provided $156,500 in seed funds to support four projects, focused on experiential learning, high impact practices, the science of learning, and global engagement. In the first 18 months of the program, first round IN/CO awardees attracted an additional $282,500 in external funding from foundations to support the projects moving forward.
Encouraged by the success of the first round, the Alliance Provosts’ Council elected to fund a second round of IN/CO Grants, awarding $178,500 of funding to support the following initiatives:
- Outcomes of Entrepreneurial Education: Perceptions of Career Readiness | $40,000
Elon University, Towson University, William & Mary - CAA Debate for Civic Learning | $44,500
James Madison University, College of Charleston, Northeastern University, Towson University, University of North Carolina Wilmington, William & Mary - Ethical Reasoning in STEM Through Multi-Disciplinary Collaborative
Teaching | $40,000
James Madison University, Drexel University - Using Historical Collections for Civic Engagement and Innovative
Teaching & Learning | $40,000
Drexel University, University of Delaware, William & Mary - Toolkit for Assessment & Articulation of High-Impact Practices in
Academic Libraries | $14,000
Elon University, Towson University, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Despite the unprecedented challenges that Alliance institutions currently face due to the COVID-19 pandemic, four of the five second round grant teams elected to move forward with their projects as planned, transitioning to virtual collaboration. Project leaders for the “Ethical Reasoning in STEM Through Multi-Disciplinary Collaborative Teaching” IN/CO Grant have elected to postpone their study for one academic year, as virtual collaboration is not suitable for their planned co-teaching model.
Understanding that we are in a time of adjustment and uncertainty, the Alliance is currently working with each grant team to modify timelines, adjust grant budgets, and provide extensions as necessary. For the purposes of this report, grantees were asked to submit only brief progress updates. Click to download the report here: IN:CO Report for Web | October 2020.
Questions about the IN/CO Grant program are welcome and should be directed to Alliance Executive Director Lindsey Interlante at li@caa-academics.org.
