FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Fort Collins, Colo. | May 20, 2026
UERU to Convene National Leadership Summit on Transforming Undergraduate Education at Research Universities, Inaugurate Carl E. Wieman Award for Excellence
The gathering will focus on implementation of five key reforms outlined by the Boyer 2030 Commission
Research universities face growing pressure to improve undergraduate student outcomes amid rapidly changing conditions. On August 2–4, 2026, the Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU) will host an action-oriented Leadership Summit designed to focus university leadership around advancing five key levers for reform, initially outlined by the Boyer 2030 Commission.
The summit will convene leadership teams and experts from the following institutions: American University in Cairo, Boston College, Chapman University, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, Florida State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Indiana University-Bloomington, New York University, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Stanford University, Texas State University, University of Arizona, University of California-Irvine, University of California-Merced, University of Colorado, Boulder, University of Idaho, University of Kentucky, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nevada, University of North Texas, University of Pittsburgh, University of South Carolina, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, University of Texas-Arlington, University of Texas-Dallas, University of Texas System, Utah State University, Vanderbilt University, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest University, and Wayne State University.
They will be joined by representatives of higher ed associations, including the American Association for Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), Canada’s U15, Excelencia in Education, NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising, as well as education technology innovators, including Ellucian, PebblePad, Podium Education, Riipen, Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Math (TPSE), and Tyton Partners. Both groups are essential partners in change.
"This summit is not your typical conference, but a highly structured intervention," said Hillary Procknow, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at the University of Nevada and UERU's Board Chair. "We're bringing together the people who collectively hold responsibility for leading change, under Chatham House Rules, to co-design the future of undergraduate education at research universities."
Featured plenary speakers include Rakesh Khurana, former Dean of Harvard College (2014-2025), who will keynote the Summit, as well as Daniel Greenstein (Ellucian), Brian Rosenberg (Harvard), and a Boyer 2030 Commission panel led by Commission Co-Chair Peter McPherson (APLU Emeritus) and including Sarah Newman (Harvard), Lynn Pasquerella (AAC&U), and Deborah S. Santiago (Excelencia).
The Boyer 2030 Commission Report, The Equity-Excellence Imperative, has been downloaded over 47,000 times to unique IP addresses and is available gratis thanks to Raikes and Suder Foundation support. The Boyer 2030 Commission Report thesis is carried forward in The Equity-Excellence Imperative in Action (Johns Hopkins University Press 2026), freely available thanks to support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, as well as in forthcoming volumes in the Routledge Series, Advancing Equity and Excellence in Undergraduate Education: A Focus on Research Universities, the debut volume of which will be featured at the Summit.
At the Summit, UERU will also inaugurate the Carl E. Wieman Award for Excellence by recognizing two university units “that demonstrate commitment to and establish systems of accountability for teaching excellence and highest quality undergraduate education, as defined by the Boyer 2030 Report and others similar.” Dr. Wieman, Stanford University Professor of Physics and Professor of Education Emeritus, has, in the language of the award description, “dedicated four decades to research on teaching excellence, educational policy, and leadership, as well as exemplifies the integration of excellence in scholarship, teaching, and service to others.” Dr. Wieman will participate in the recognition ceremony.
The Leadership Summit will be held on campus at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, a leading land-grant university that has served as host for UERU since 2013. CSU System Chancellor Tony Frank and CSU President Amy Parsons and their colleagues will help host Summit guests as well as participate in its work.
Founded in 2000 by Stony Brook University President Shirley Strum Kenny upon her leadership of the landmark Boyer Commission Report (1998), UERU today serves 141 universities and eight international affiliates, all of them committed to transforming undergraduate education at research universities.
Media Contact:
Steven P. Dandaneau
UERU Executive Director and Associate Provost, Colorado State University
Steven.Dandaneau@colostate.edu | 785-477-6307
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