Redesigning Higher Ed: Transparency and Talent Activation | Dr. Bridget Burns, University Innovation Alliance (UIA)

We sit down with Dr. Bridget Burns, the founding Executive Director of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA), a coalition of public research universities transforming how higher education serves its students.

Raised in rural Montana and a first-gen student herself, Dr. Burns shares her journey into higher ed leadership and how her lived experiences continue to fuel her mission: redesigning institutions around students, not systems.

We dive into what it takes to build a high-trust network in a sector wired for competition, how predictive analytics helped UIA campuses graduate over 164,000 more students, and why transparency and career readiness are essential to restoring public trust.