A Selection of Institutional Benefits

There are many reasons for becoming the next host of Imagining America. Share this selection of benefits to hosting IA with interested colleagues and campus leaders.

1. Join a national conversation: IA elevates the leadership, voice, and reputation of the host campus as a thought leader in national conversation through the National Gathering, research initiatives, member engagement, and network organizing.

2. Demonstrate commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion: IA selects hosts who actively demonstrate a commitment to values of social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion, offering an important vehicle for faculty, student, and staff recruitment and retention, and partnership building.

3. Access a diverse field of experts in curricular and research innovation: Hosting IA provides campus administrators, faculty, and students with direct access to a national field of leading teachers, scholars, and professionals producing cutting edge academic programs, curricular innovations, and research partnerships. 

4. Build upon IA’s impactful work on institutional reform: From the groundbreaking report Scholarship in Public (Ellison and Eatman) on tenure reform to better support public scholars to the recent Leading and Learning Initiative, IA research bolsters institutional change efforts on the host campus through relevant, equitable, and proven approaches to strengthening institutional policy and culture.

5. Provide students with research and professional development opportunities: Student services professionals see the gold standard in student engagement as providing “cash, credit, and caché.” Through internships and paid positions, the Imagining America host demonstrates and directly provides just this to both undergraduate and graduate students interested in working with a nationally recognized organization. 

6. Engage community in host campus region: The IA host is in a strong position to convene local events that bring people together across common campus-community divides using the bold powers of the arts, design, and humanities. 

7. Attract campus awards and fundraising mentorship: The significant fundraising and development expertise and accomplishments of IA staff and board members contributes to campus income and development opportunities. 

8. Serve: IA headquarters staff make valuable contributions to committees, advisory boards, projects, and programs at the host campus. IA staff also bring the rich resources of a national higher education organization to the host campus. 

9. Lead: Host campus faculty, students, and staff have opportunities to hold important leadership positions with IA, such as regional advisory boards, National Gathering committees, and more, offering professional development and learning opportunities.

10. Create: Powerful storytelling, artmaking, publications, and creative convenings are launched by the host campus and IA headquarters – fostering imaginative narratives on the most pressing issues of our time.