Strategic Programming & Innovation

Current Initiatives

Unify America's Civic Gym

UND is proud to continue our partnership with Unify America’s Civic Gym, an innovative digital platform designed to help students develop essential skills in civil discourse, active listening, and collaborative problem-solving. This partnership integrates experiential civic learning directly into coursework across diverse academic disciplines—from aviation to nursing—preparing students to navigate differences and work effectively in any career.

Our partnership provides turnkey access to the platform's core experiences:

• Unify Challenge:  Students participate in a guided, one-on-one video conversation with a peer from a different geographic, cultural, or political background to discuss national issues and find unexpected common ground.
• Deep Dive: Student pairs focus on a single complex issue, reviewing researched facts and working together to brainstorm practical, real-world solutions.

Registration for the events will be sent out to all faculty at the start of each term.

Our ongoing integration has shown remarkable success. Data from UND students and faculty participants highlights the deep impact of these programs. For these detailed insights and pedagogical strategies from our campus integration, please review our most recent UND Case Study on Intercollegiate Experiential Civil Learning.

Work-Based Learning

Collaborate with faculty to embed work experience and work-based projects into students' courses and programs.  These experiences and projects are innovative ways to strategically provide students the opportunity to solve real-world problems by cooperating with companies and other employers.

Academic Partnerships

Explore and help create and manage academic partnerships with other institutions including colleges and universities as well as consortia and other educational entities for the purpose of expanding opportunities for UND faculty, staff, and students.

Innovative Learning

Pilot projects exploring innovative engagement and learning processes in the context of predicting student success in higher education. Current projects include virtual learning communities for students, academic success coaches, online international learning experiences, and predictive uses of student interactions within Learning Management Systems.