Applications Due August 14.
Shape the Future
The future isn’t something that just happens. It’s something we create together. The Alliance of Future Makers is a national innovation sandbox. In this space, educators, administrators, and institutional leaders can test bold ideas, confront the sector’s hardest challenges, and pressure-test solutions that will ensure your institution, your students, and your community will be ready for change, not left behind.
What is AFM
The AFM program is designed to help college and university leaders navigate the rapid technological shifts and cultural changes that are reshaping modern campuses. Together, alliance members will combine their decades of experience and creative problem solving to develop strategies that serve their institutions and their students. Leaders will use the current landscape of emerging disruptions—from artificial intelligence in the classroom to shifting student demographics and public expectations—to develop proactive decisions that protect and advance their schools.
Whether you’re building solutions from the ground up or setting direction from the top, the Alliance can equip you to make smarter decisions today for a better tomorrow.
Why Join AFM?
Higher education’s challenges are too complex and consequential to face alone. The Alliance of Future Makers harnesses the power of many to meet the future together.
- Join a Network of Futurists: Connect with a nationwide community of innovators all working to design what’s next for the sector.
- Master Strategic Foresight: Gain the tools to track emerging trends, from hands-on scenario design to institution-wide strategy.
- Engage in Radical Candor: Game out solutions to the sector’s most persistent challenges in a space built for collaboration and shared learning.
- From Insight to Innovation: Translate trends and scenarios into actionable product or service concepts.
- Lead Innovation with Confidence: Build the long-term skills and executive networks needed to manage disruptive change with confidence.
It was one of the most energizing professional learning experiences I’ve had in a long time. What made it unique was that it wasn’t just talking about the future—it gave us practical tools to think strategically about uncertainty, emerging trends, and how institutions can respond in real time.
– Dr. Susanne Brock, Associate Vice Chancellor, Business Sector Strategy, at City Colleges of Chicago
To hear more from Dr. Brock and other 2025 cohort members, click here.
Being more big picture and driven by the bigger picture, particularly the signals around us and the toolsets that they were able to provide to us plus experience in practice, were extremely worth it.
– Dr. Anthony Martinez, Academic Program Coordinator, University of Texas at Austin
To hear more from Dr. Martinez and other 2025 cohort members, click here.
The Fellowship challenged me to look beyond what is happening now and think more intentionally about what is happening next.
– Shar-day Campbell, Manager, Strategic Enrollment Communications and Social Media, Houston City College
To hear more from Shar-day and other 2025 cohort members, click here.
Professional Tracks
AFM offers three professional tracks. Find your cohort below.
Fellows Track
Faculty, staff, and administrators who are building the skills to design and implement change at your institution.
Administration Track
Executive director and above leadership levels that support college and university senior administrators in leading innovation and cultivating the conditions for it across your organization.
President/CEO Circle
Thought leaders from across the country coming together to collaborate on strategic solutions that prepare their institutions for the coming challenges and opportunities shaping higher education.
