Faculty Innovation Fellows Program

The Faculty Innovation Fellows Program is a two-year experience designed to help faculty and staff expand the innovation and entrepreneurship movement at their schools. Faculty Innovation Fellows work both in collaboration with their student University Innovation Fellows and on their own to design ways to improve their institutions. They connect with a community of like-minded educators from around the world to advance projects, gather feedback, and share what they learn.

About the program

At the UIF Alps Meetup in Austria in February 2020, Faculty Champions in attendance expressed a desire to be part of a community of other faculty to learn how to harness the UIF movement on campus, share best practices and cultivate projects of their own that advanced the innovation ecosystems in their communities. To meet their needs, we launched this program in Fall 2020. 16 educators from 14 international universities were accounted as Faculty Innovation Fellows during the Silicon Valley Meetup 2022. The Fall 2021 cohort launched with 18 educators from 12 campuses. The Fall 2022 cohort launched with 19 educators from 16 campuses.

This is an offering exclusive to Faculty Champions at institutions with one or more students in the current cohort of University Innovation Fellows. There is no charge for the Faculty Innovation Fellows Program beyond the prerequisite of having an enrolled student cohort of Fellows.

Four long-standing members of the Faculty Champion community will provide mentorship to the group of candidates: Nick Swayne of James Madison University, Mary Raber of Michigan Tech, Miriam Iliohan of the University of Twente, and Ilya Avdeev of University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. 

Learn more about the program in an article written by the four program mentors in our program’s new Change Forward journal.

What Faculty Innovation Fellows do

Candidates in the program collaborate with one another to learn new change strategies, develop projects, gather feedback on ideas, and share resources. Since the program’s launch, candidates have been meeting in small groups to share the opportunities for change they identified as well as ideas for projects that can make the most impact for students at their schools. Candidates’ proposed projects include funding programs, new majors, new classes, activities that connect the campus and the community, and more.

Additionally, each member of the program will have the opportunity to publish an article in the UIF journal, Change Forward, detailing their project and their progress. Read the journal online.

2020-2022 Faculty Innovation Fellows

  • Oguzhan Aygoren, Bogazici University
  • Mirna Mattjik, Colorado School of Mines
  • Alyssa Martina, Elon University
  • Bozena Mierzejewska , Fordham University
  • Malte Krohn, Hamburg University of Technology
  • Zeynep Erden Bayazit, İstanbul Technical University
  • Balaji Ramanujam, Madanapalle Institute of Technology & Science
  • Vijaya Lakshmi Udayagiri, Madanapalle Institute of Technology & Science
  • Bruce Paton, Menlo College
  • Lisa Casper, Michigan Technological University
  • Danuvasin Charoen, National Institute of Development Administration
  • Jongsawas Chongwatpol, National Institute of Development Administration
  • Rishelle Wimmer, Salzburg University of Applied Science
  • Magdalena Ionescu, Sophia University
  • John Fernando Fontaine Nesmachnow, Universidad Tecnológica del Uruguay
  • Jeff Chamberlain, University of North Florida

2021-2023 Faculty Innovation Fellows

  • Erica Noelle Hernandez, Bowie State University
  • Julie Ann Messing, Central Michigan University
  • Kelle Kathleen DeBoth, Cleveland State University
  • Nicholas Zingale, Cleveland State University
  • Melanie Bowman, Khalifa University of Science and Technology
  • Bongkot Jenjarrussakul, National Institute of Development Administration
  • Chanansara Oranop na ayutthaya, National Institute of Development Administration
  • Michael Dominik, Rowan University
  • Stephane Yu Matsushita, Tohoku University
  • Takeshi  Kato, Tohoku University
  • Felipe Wilson, Universidad de los Andes, Chile
  • Daniel Flores Bueno, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
  • Jorge Bossio, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
  • Norma Silvana Balarezo, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
  • Aaron Bradley, University of Cincinnati
  • Julieta Matos Castano, University of Twente

2022-2024 Faculty Innovation Fellows candidates

  • Ozgun Burcu Rodopman, Bogazici University
  • Daniël van Vliet, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Luise Degen, Hamburg University of Technology
  • Svenja Damberg, Hamburg University of Technology
  • Christoph Winkler, Iona University
  • John Bannister, Johnson C. Smith University
  • Bahare Afrahi, Kingston University
  • Melanie Lewis, Macquarie University
  • Laura Jayne Parson, North Dakota State University
  • Hallie Ann Neupert, Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech)
  • Prashant Atmakuri, Prasad V Potluri Siddhartha Institute of Technology
  • Seán Ronan McCarthy, James Madison University
  • Vonda LaKecia Reed, Shaw University
  • Terry Kidd, St. Augustine’s University
  • Terrance McNeil, Tennessee State University
  • Carlos Letts, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
  • Maria Pia Felipa Ibarra, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
  • Shirley Vanessa Villanes Borja, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
  • Jeremiah Harrison, Utah Valley University

2023-2025 Faculty Innovation Fellows candidates

  • Samantha Leanna Strachan, Alabama A&M University
  • Yavuz Acar, Bogazici University
  • Alejandra Rengifo, Central Michigan University
  • Gustav Adriaan Verhulsdonck, Central Michigan University
  • Kim Venitta Scott, Elizabeth City State University
  • Axel Roepnack, Fordham University, Gabelli School of Business
  • Lendynette Pacheco-Jorge, Iona University
  • Pamala D. Heard, Jackson State University
  • Shirley Faye Burnett, Jackson State University
  • Antonina M.C. Johnston, Kern Institute at The Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Arjun Chakravarthi Pogaku, Madanapalle Institute of Technology & Science
  • Anukal Chiralaksanakul, National Institute of Development Administration
  • María Noel Ferrer, Universidad Católica del Uruguay
  • Adriana Maria Alemán, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
  • Javiera Alcazar, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
  • Mariana Morales, Universidad Tecnológica del Uruguay
  • Natalie Marie Walsh, University of Galway
  • Suzanne M Ehrlich, University of North Florida
  • Amanda Blakewood Pascale, University of North Florida
  • Francesco Toso, University of Twente

Learn more

Interested educators must have an enrolled cohort of students in the Fall 2023 program. Learn more. Contact us at team@universityinnovation.org for more information.