Southern Utah University Collaborates with National Partners to Drive Innovation in Rural Higher Education
Published: July 15, 2026 | Author: Gabrielle Costello | Read Time: 2 minutes
Southern Utah University (SUU) faculty and staff recently joined partner institutions from across the nation for a two-day summit dedicated to expanding educational access and economic opportunity in rural communities.
The gathering was hosted by Athens State University, bringing together representatives from SUU, Athens State, and Georgia College and State University (GCSU) with a mission to advance the goals of the FUTURE project -- Fostering Unity and Teamwork for Rural Excellence. This collaborative initiative is funded through the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and its Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC) grant program. The program helps institutions build robust research opportunities, develop regional workforces, and foster collaborative industry networks.
Now in its second year, the FUTURE collaborative unites these three distinct institutions through a shared commitment to serving rural areas. During the strategic sessions, teams mapped out long-term frameworks to ensure the initiative's workforce development and regional benefits continue well beyond the life of the grant.
"By bridging the gap between academic innovation and industry demand, the FUTURE collaborative helps ensure our STEM graduates at SUU are uniquely prepared to make contributions in tomorrow's workforce," said Dr. William Heybourne, Dean of SUU's Walter Maxwell Gibson College of Natural Sciences. "This NSF EPIIC grant allows us to build intentional industry partnerships that simultaneously elevate our curriculum and fortify the future workforce."
Beyond the strategy sessions, the summit offered opportunities for the academic partners to network at a Rocket City Trash Pandas minor league baseball game. This fostered the ability to spark new ideas for career-focused learning, ensuring that degrees align closely with the needs of the modern marketplace.
Dr. Heybourne says SUU is leveraging the grant to create Business and Industry Leadership Teams (BILT) across campus. These groups bring together industry partners in an advisory capacity with academic departments to strengthen curriculum and better align instruction with industry needs.
SUU is proud to be a partner in this initiative and host the summit in 2027, alongside other academic institutions who are dedicated to fostering innovation in rural higher education.
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