Bridget Burns, CEO of the University Innovation Alliance, introduces a powerful episode of the Innovating Together Podcast, featuring a UIA National Summit session with Brandee Popaden-Smith, Senior Director at University College, Arizona State University.

In this talk, Brandee shares the story behind Work+, ASU’s innovative approach to student employment that reimagines how institutions support working learners. Sparked by the UIA’s Bridging the Gap from Education to Employment initiative, ASU asked: What if we became the kind of employer we want our students to have?

Topics include:

• What empathy interviews revealed about student work
• How ASU launched and iterated Work+ to meet real student needs
• Why student employment should be part of a student success strategy
• The messy, nonlinear process of building a national model
• The launch of the Work+ Collective, now over 25 campuses strong

Tune in to hear how one university turned internal jobs into purpose-driven learning experiences—and why waiting for perfect solutions risks leaving students behind.

Bridget Burns, CEO of the University Innovation Alliance, and Sara Custer, Editor-in-Chief of Inside Higher Ed, speak with Jamie Merisotis, President and CEO of Lumina Foundation, on the Innovating Together Podcast. President Merisotis talks about Lumina’s new goal for a successful labor force, the value proposition of higher education, the importance of perceived equity, and the urgency for higher ed reform. Topics include:
 

• College degrees as benchmarks of success
• Calculating the long-term value of a higher ed degree or certification
• Shifting the public focus toward affordability and fairness
• Why redesigning higher ed can’t wait

 
Tune in for an insightful and necessary look at higher ed’s evolving role in the U.S economy.
 

Bridget Burns, CEO of the University Innovation Alliance, speaks with Raj Chetty, Director of Opportunity Insights at Harvard University, on the Innovating Together Podcast. Professor Chetty discusses the relationship between upward mobility and student success, the impact of first jobs after graduation, and the role of social connectedness in driving economic opportunity. Topics include:

• The decline of the American Dream and disparities in economic mobility
• How geography and race shape students’ opportunities
• The role of higher education institutions in improving social mobility
• The impact of first jobs on long-term career trajectories
• The power of social capital in shaping student success

Tune in to explore how data-driven insights can help universities create pathways to opportunity.