Radical Collaboration in Higher Ed: Dr. Bridget Burns on Breaking the Mold
About this episode
Dr. Bridget Burns discusses her journey and the importance of collaboration in higher education reform.
What if college wasn’t built for the very students who need it most? In this episode of Pathbreakers , we talk to Dr. Bridget Burns, CEO of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA), about her deeply personal journey from first-generation college student to national higher education reformer. Bridget opens up about the systemic gaps that left her, and students like her, under-supported and misunderstood, and how that experience lit a fire that fuels her work today. We explore how Bridget and the UIA are rewriting the playbook for higher education, one collaboration at a time. She shares how she’s brought together 19 university presidents, often former first-gen students themselves, to put competition aside and share not just their success stories, but their failures. Why? Because vulnerable students can’t wait for every school to reinvent the wheel. Bridget also takes us inside UIA’s Listening Lab, a powerful innovation that puts student voices at the center of decision-making, and offers a candid look at the pressures facing college leaders today. Key Takeaways: Radical collaboration can drive real student success outcomes. Scaling innovation means adapting, not copying…
People in this episode
Guest: Dr. Bridget Burns
Topics covered
- higher education reform
- first-generation college students
- collaboration
- student success
- innovation
Keywords
- higher education
- first-generation students
- collaboration
- student voices
- innovation
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: University Innovation Alliance, UIA
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