BHEF Faculty Innovation Fellowship 2026 — Executive Sponsor Nomination Form

RESOURCES FOR NOMINEES

BHEF recognizes that nominees come from a wide and diverse range of disciplines. Therefore, they may have a differing understanding of various concepts describes in this nomination. To assist with anchoring your capstone project in foundation elements of BHEF’s mission, we encourage you to skim the resources provided below.

Before completing this form, we encourage nominees to review the following BHEF publications. These resources provide context for the fellowship’s focus areas and will help you develop a stronger capstone proposal.

• AI-Enabled Professional Framework
• Expanding Internships Report 
• The WPI Playbook

About the BHEF Faculty Innovation Fellowship

The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) Faculty Innovation Fellowship is an incubator and accelerator experience designed to identify and empower faculty leaders on the cutting edge of workforce and employer-aligned skills innovations.

Nominated and endorsed by their presidents, provosts, or cabinet-level leaders, Fellows are selected because they have a promising idea, the drive to bring it to life, and the institutional leadership support to see through implementation. Over a curated, nine-month experience, BHEF provides structure, expertise, peer community, and coaching to move a capstone project from concept to real-world implementation through a three-phase curriculum that bridges innovative mindsets, change management, and leadership development.

For 2026, BHEF will integrate two core themes throughout the experience: Student AI Skills Adoption & Integration and Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) experiences. Economic data continues to show that no occupation is immune to the changing nature of work, driven by AI and AI-enabled technologies and that learners need to be prepared for an AI-enabled future of work. Additionally, studies continue to reinforce that access to work-integrated learning is critical for the learning and economic success of students and far less available than workers and learners and need. Studies show that less than one-third of students access an internship or work-based learning experience.

Finally, BHEF’s Fellowship focuses on elevating faculty with a commitment to expanding access and opportunity in higher education and with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences in higher education leadership. Nominators and nominees are encouraged to consider and provide insight into how their capstone addresses these systemic barriers that prevent connecting talent to opportunity.

BHEF’s nomination process includes three key elements:

1. Applicant Profile
2. Capstone Project Overview and Fellowship Goals, and
3. Executive Sponsor Plan and Form (Separate Form)

Fellows should be sure to review all materials carefully before submitting.

Public Use Notice: Accepted Fellows’ biographies, photographs, project titles, and capstone descriptions may appear on BHEF’s website, in publications, and in presentations to our national network. Please provide all materials as publicly usable. Sensitive institutional details need not be included.

Eligibility
Nominees must meet all of the following criteria. Nominees that fail to meet these criteria will not be considered.

• Full-time faculty teaching credit-bearing courses in a two- or four-year degree program
• Minimum three (3) years of experience at their current institution by the end of the 2025–2026 academic year
• A proposed capstone project with a direct connection to student workforce readiness, employer engagement, or applied skills—addressing at least one of the two 2026 themes (AI skills or WIL)
• A confirmed executive sponsor at the cabinet level (president, chancellor, provost, or equivalent)
• Confirmed institutional budget to cover tuition and estimated travel (see Financial Commitment section)

Priority is given to BHEF Network Partner Institutions and Systems. 

Faculty from groups historically underrepresented in higher education leadership and innovation are especially encouraged to apply.

Visit bhef.com/our-network to confirm if your institution or system chancellor’s office is a current network partner.

Tuition:

• BHEF Network Partner: $5,000
• Non-network: $10,000.

Estimated travel: $1,200-$1,500.

• BHEF provides on-site breakfast, lunch, and one off-site dinner per session. BHEF coordinates block rate hotels. 
• Fellows / host institutions are responsible for cost of hotel, airfare, and off-site dinner. 
• Invoices due June 30, 2026 or alternate date agreed in writing.

Tuition invoices are issued to the host institution upon acceptance and are due by June 30, 2026, or by an alternate date agreed upon in writing with BHEF with the Fellowship Director. Non-BHEF Network institutions whose leadership joins BHEF before June 30, 2026, are eligible for the Network Partner rate. BHEF must receive a written agreement from the institution affirming its intent to join and approval to invoice for network partnership dues.

Travel: Fellows are responsible for airfare, hotel (BHEF arranges group rate blocks), and ground transportation. BHEF provides catering on-site for breakfast and lunch and one off-site dinner for each session.

Fellows who need budget support are welcome to and encouraged to solicit sponsors for tuition or travel. However, the Fellow must coordinate directly with their sponsor and all agreements are only between the institution and the sponsor. BHEF will invoice only the host institution for tuition and is not party to any agreements. The institution and Fellow are responsible for coordinating any internal reimbursement or external sponsorship arrangements.

No Refund Policy: Due to the program’s fixed operating costs, BHEF cannot offer refunds once a tuition invoice has been issued. Please confirm budget availability and full institutional commitment before submitting a nomination.

Invoice Authorization

If accepted, BHEF will invoice your institution directly for fellowship tuition. Please confirm authorization and provide billing contact information below.

A key component of the BHEF Faculty Innovation Fellowship is strong sponsor support from cabinet-level officials. These officials provide institution-wide strategic support, cross-cutting connections, and insights into the institution’s strategic planning and institutional goals. Executive sponsors generally should be the principal administrator for the institution (eg. Chancellor, president), provost, or cabinet-level. While BHEF acknowledges the leadership and contributions of deans and department chairs, they are not sufficient as an executive sponsor for the design of this program. However, deans and faculty chairs are welcome and encouraged to be on-going advisors and mentors to support the shared vision of the executive sponsor and nominee.

Generally speaking, executive sponsors should provide strategic guidance, coaching, mentorship, referrals to internal institutional leaders, and access to key institutional resources and relationships both on-campus and off-campus.

The following questions should provide BHEF reviewers with a deeper understanding of how the executive sponsor anticipates providing strategic and personal support.

Reminders

Submit by 5:00 PM ET, Friday April 3, 2026.

Questions: Email fellowship@bhef.com

Webinars: Friday March 13, 11:00 AM ET and Monday March 16, 3:30 PM ET.

Register and additional information: www.bhef.com/fellowship.