Advancing Innovation in Higher Education
Professor Mykoff’s project is designed to transform higher education by addressing global challenges such as environmental injustice, colonial legacies, and social inequality. It does so through an approach that is transdisciplinary, student-centered, and experiential.
Three new courses will be introduced at UCR, exploring themes of gender, race, Native American studies, and the intersection of climate change with social systems. Students will collaborate with partner institutions worldwide in short-term exchanges to investigate real-world problems and share solutions.
Decolonizing the Curriculum and Strengthening Community-Engaged Learning
A core pillar of Innovating Education is to decolonize the curriculum by integrating Indigenous ways of knowing alongside Western academic traditions. A key partnership is with WOZU, a community initiative on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in the U.S., whose mission is to “plant seeds of change” by reconnecting past and future generations through land-based learning.
The project also enhances UCR’s Community Engaged Learning (CEL) by emphasizing reciprocity, equity, and long-term relationship-building with communities and cultural institutions, including:
-
Sitting Bull College (North Dakota, USA)
-
Zeeuws Museum (Middelburg, NL)
-
OBA Amsterdam, IHLIA LGBTI Heritage, and Bar Bario (Amsterdam, NL)
These collaborations will allow students to engage deeply with pressing issues in society, art, culture, and sustainability—while contributing to communities both locally and globally.
Culmination at the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies
The project will conclude with a public celebration and showcase of international collaboration at the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS) in Middelburg, planned for Fall 2026.
A Transformative Step for Education at UCR
Professor Mykoff’s award is a testament to the innovative and socially engaged approach to liberal arts and sciences education at UCR. Innovating Education embodies UCR’s values: critical inquiry, inclusivity, global engagement, and real-world impact.
We congratulate Professor Mykoff on this outstanding achievement and look forward to seeing the project come to life.