Join the IChange Network!

Information for Institutional Applicants to

NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Aspire Alliance

Institutional Change Network Cohort 5

General Information

APLU’s Institutional Change (IChange) Network helps public research universities create the environment and policies that attract, retain, and support a thriving faculty to advance the institution’s education, research, and engagement missions. IChange uses an institutional-and community-based approach to create a customized action plan that helps colleges and universities address practice and policy barriers that exist in: 

Institutional Context | Faculty Recruitment | Faculty Hiring | Faculty Retention

IChange provides frameworks and tools to support institutions as they tackle challenges and improve their academic workplace. This is coupled with an active and managed peer-learning network where public university leaders can share their experiences with institutions facing similar challenges so they can learn and improve together and elevate promising practices for the broader community. A governing board comprised of seven member institutions and an APLU Liaison guide the IChange Network. 

Institutional Commitments

Participating institutions commit to identifying campus-based project leaders and teams who agree to create and implement an action plan to advance institutional transformation. Each summer, the IChange Network convenes in person at a member institution to share their progress throughout the year, amend or update their action plans, identify larger trends in the work of the ICircles and Network, and strategize future Network priorities and endeavors. Participants also engage in network-wide meetings to share their progress, achievements, and challenges. Additionally, schools complete ongoing surveys and other evaluations with the network. 

Cohort Process

Universities work in a launch cohort in which the APLU team provides each institution tools and technical support to create a campus-based team of senior academic leaders to champion the work that includes a self-assessment of institutional faculty, a practice and policies audit, and the creation of a draft data-informed action plan.

The institution’s action plan addresses barriers in at least one of four areas – institutional culture, faculty recruitment, faculty hiring, or faculty retention – to focus on in the first year. This approach allows institutions to critically examine policies and procedures that may be inhibiting faculty success, with support from experts with a national perspective of leading faculty success policies.

IChange Network Cohort 5 Application Information

Application Materials and Submission Guidelines

• • • IChange Network Application

    • IChange Network Program Overview

    • IChange Network Submission Guidelines (Instructions, Selection Criteria, Reviewer Rubric)

Timeline for Cohort 5 Application Process

• • • June 1, 2023:  Applications Open

    • July 12, 2023: Application FAQ Webinar (registration required)

    • July 24, 2023: Application FAQ Webinar (registration required)

    • August 1, 2023, 8:00pm ET: Application Deadline 

    • Late August 2023: Institutions Invited to Join the Network

    • September 1, 2023: Cohort 5 Members Announced

    • September 21, 2023: First Virtual Cohort 5 Meeting & Launch of Institutional Self-Assessments

Bold signifies important deadlines.

    IChange Network Anticipated Meeting Dates
(All Times are 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM ET)

September 21, 2023 Cohort 5 First Virtual Meeting

October 19, 2023 Cohort 5 Second Virtual Meeting

November 9, 2023 Cohort 5 Third Virtual Meeting

December 7, 2023 IChange Network Bi-Annual Meeting

January 25, 2024 Cohort 5 Fourth Virtual Meeting

February 15, 2024 Cohort 5 Fifth Virtual Meeting

March 14, 2024 Cohort 5 Sixth Virtual Meeting

April 11, 2024 IChange Network Bi-Annual Meeting

May 16, 2024 Cohort 5 Final Virtual Meeting

Summer 2024* IChange Network Meeting (In-Person) 

Strong Applications will:

• • • Express clearly how participation in the IChange Network could help the institution achieve its goals. 

    • Highlight what the institution might be able to contribute to the Network.

    • Articulate the challenges facing the institution at this point in their process of developing a more inclusive and diverse faculty, including any local, state, or national context issues, and make clear how the IChange Network could help meet those challenges.

    • Demonstrate how participation in the IChange Network would be leveraged across campus and coordinated centrally.

    • Provide coherent narratives that helped reviewers understand the connections across different activities at the institution.

    • Share institutional learning from previous change efforts, including challenges, failures, or ongoing obstacles.

    • Present and contextualize data about the institution, including demographic data and climate and/or satisfaction surveys.

    • Avoid using hyperlinks to information on external websites, as it is hard for reviewers to assess and unfair to other applicants.

Review and Selection Process

The fifth IChange Network cohort will have around 10 institutional members. Institutions that are invited to participate will be asked to sign a Letter of Commitment as part of acceptance to the Network. 

The application review criteria and rubric can be found in the IChange Network's Submission Guidelines. Institutions will be evaluated on their articulation of readiness for change as well as their degree of alignment with Aspire’s goals and activities. Additionally, the final determination of composition of the cohort will consider the diversity of institutional characteristics as well the possibility of substantive peer learning within the Network.