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Congratulations to the 2026 Colleagues’ Choice Innovation Award Winner

Angie Carpenter

The Western Academic Leadership Forum hosted its annual meeting April 1-3 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The meeting’s theme was “Facing Complexity, Finding Solutions.” Nearly 100 senior academic leaders from across the WICHE region gathered on the University of New Mexico campus to discuss topics pertinent to today’s colleges and universities, including artificial intelligence, career readiness, micro-pathways, budget strategies, and more.

At every annual meeting, the Forum presents the Colleagues’ Choice Innovation Award. This year’s award was presented to Angie Carpenter, Director of Veteran and Military Affairs at the University of North Dakota, for her work leading UND’s Military Connected Campus Community initiative. Learn more about this work here.

 

Past Winners Include:

Year Institution Recipient
2025 University of Alaska Anchorage Tonia A. Dousay
2024 Montana University System Crystine Miller
2023 Eastern Oregon University Tawnya Lubbes
2022 University of North Dakota Stephanie Walker
2021 University of Nevada, Reno Felicia DeWald
2019 University of Idaho Daniel Campbell
2018 California State University, Long Beach Brian Jersky