The Innovative Leadership Award recognizes individuals whose leadership in higher education has resulted in better ways to educate people to participate in and improve an open and inclusive democratic society. The award is named for and honors Virginia B. Smith, who has made extraordinary contributions in advancing innovative strategies to improve opportunity and excellence in higher education throughout her career, as educator, foundation director, and public policy scholar.

David S. Spence, a distinguished leader in higher education, has been awarded the Virginia B. Smith Innovative Leadership Award for 2006.

Spence is the president of the Southern Regional Education Board, America's first interstate compact for education.

...more about David S. Spence, and previous winners
...more about Virginia B. Smith.

The Virginia B. Smith Innovative Leadership Award was established in 1999 as an endowed annual award to encourage leadership and innovation in American higher education.

The purpose of the award is to foster better methods to educate people to participate in and improve an open and inclusive democratic society. This overall purpose can be advanced through various strategies and approaches, including innovation and leadership in the following areas.

Assuring that education leads to effective learning

Assessing learning

Developing learning communities

Using technology in teaching

Advancing institutional assessment and accreditation

Improving teacher education

Enhancing the first-year experience

Improving access to higher education

Improving articulation between high school and college

Improving articulation between two- and four-year colleges

Making college more affordable

Improving student persistence and retention

Shortening the length of college

Including appropriate subject matter and skills in the curriculum

Promoting global understanding

Strengthening civic purposes

Fostering cultural diversity

Improving group participation

Developing communication skills

Strengthening analytical thinking

The Innovative Leadership Award is jointly administered by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning. A steering committee oversees the annual competition and award cycle, and is actively seeking a diverse range of nominations and applications.

Candidates should have demonstrated innovative leadership qualities that have improved higher education, yet be at a stage in their careers when they will still make significant contributions in the future. The award is meant to encourage and support those seeking sustained improvements in higher education. In addition:

• Candidates should have demonstrated, through activities that have been implemented, innovative leadership qualities that have been central to the achievement of substantial improvements in higher education.

• These improvements should benefit students by enhancing opportunities for learning, and, wherever possible, should lead to more effective use of resources.

• The actions described should involve the cooperation and collaboration of additional individuals and/or organizations.

• These accomplishments should further the overall purposes of the award.

Nominations and applications for the Virginia B. Smith Innovative Leadership Award are accepted year-round, and should be sent to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, attention Gail Moore. Award recipients are selected by June for the following calendar year. Submission of materials via e-mail is encouraged. If materials are mailed, please provide two copies of all documents.

Nominations and applications should be brief and should include the following information:

• Description of the activities or innovations (either completed or underway) and their potential for fostering substantive and sustained improvement in the future.

• Evidence of the success and wider applicability of the candidate's work, showing that the impact of the candidate's efforts has been broader than his or her immediate workplace. This might include writing or speaking to a larger audience.

• Description of the role played by the candidate in this activity, the roles played by others through collaborative efforts, and the candidate's leadership qualities that promise continued progress in the future.

• A resume or biography of the candidate.

Charles I. Bunting
Vice President
A.T. Kearney, Inc.

Patrick M. Callan
President
National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education

Austin Doherty
Director
Alverno College Institute

Peter Ewell
Vice President
National Center for Higher Education Management Systems

Joni E. Finney
Vice President
National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education

David O. Justice
Vice President for Lifelong Learning
DePaul University

Margaret A. Miller
Director, The Center for the Study of Higher Education
Curry School of Education
University of Virginia

Virginia B. Smith
President Emerita
Vassar College

Carol F. Stoel
Science Education Administrator
National Science Foundation