ACE Leadership Institute Overview
AACN’s Access, Connection, and Engagement (ACE) Leadership Institute provides a transformative enrichment experience for those committed to championing excellence in academic nursing and redefining the roles that faculty, students, and staff have on advancing nursing education and practice. Program facilitators frame how to enhance access, strengthen connection, and facilitate engagement within the context of higher education and academic nursing while presenting high-involvement strategies and practices that can be deployed at schools of nursing.
Attendees gain new knowledge and experiences designed to stimulate strategic thinking and elevate impact. Program content was designed to increase self-awareness while building skills and capacity to lead change and launch successful initiatives which enhance academic excellence. This program offers the opportunity for participants to develop strategies designed to drive excellence and meet local needs. Upon completion, graduates will present their final projects describing how they will operational their action plans within their respective organizations. Those completing the Institute and all assignments will be recognized as a fellow of the ACE institute and provided with a certificate.
Time Commitment
Applicants should be prepared to commit significant personal time to the Institute. The six-month program includes the following mandatory time commitments:
- Five two-day virtual modules with each module lasting 5 hours. These modules will be scheduled for:
- January 2026
- February 2026
- March 2026
- April 2026
- May 2026
- June 2026
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Approximately two hours of pre-work to be completed before each module.
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Monthly two-hour, small group chats with mentors. Individual meetings with a mentor are available as needed.
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Developing and presenting a capstone project which will focus on an area within the AACN Ecosystem of Excellence in Academic Nursing that aligns with your institutions mission, vision and goals that will enhance access, connection, and engagement.
Who Should Attend?
Individuals who are committed to:
- advancing their institution’s strategic plan, vision, and mission
- expanding leadership development and roles
- developing new community connections
- leveraging academic leadership, faculty governance, and student affairs to develop curricular interventions
- connecting research, assessment, and experience
Key Focus Areas
Increased Awareness
- Progress from awareness to action and promote system-wide transformation with a long-term, measurable impact.
Attitude
- Develop a vision for how your role as educational leader can promote success for all students by marshaling learning and teaching resources, engaging in data-driven decision making, and building a network of community connections.
- Demonstrate the courage, commitment, and persistence needed to be a transformative change agent with the ability to develop networks and support structures needed to sustain your work and magnify your influence.
Knowledge
- Expand your knowledge base to help develop an organization with a clear vision for creating resources and opportunities for all students, staff, and faculty. Mobilize for improvement, using an explicit understanding of adult learning and skills in establishing a civil learning environment. Create a climate for learning centered on providing quality care for all people.
Skill Development
- Nurture personal skills and habits of mind to understand your own individual characteristics and personal prompts that may elicit partiality, and take the next developmental steps in your identity development and leadership journey.
- Sharpen analytic skills to understand the implications of research and appreciate multiple points of view through active and careful listening. Be willing to confront views that impede/counter fairness while honoring the dignity of those holding them.
Graduates of the Institute will:
- Compare and contrast conceptual frameworks
- Examine organizational infrastructure within the context of academic excellence
- Apply current research when developing and planning for execution of strategies tailored for your own institutions
- Implement a real-world access, connection and engagement initiative for your organizations
- Apply foundational concepts and strategies to the change process.