Recognizing Innovation and Excellence in Education
MVAA’s Education Impact Award (formerly the Innovator Award) recognizes an academic institution or staff member(s), either as an individual or a team, who developed a new process, method, technology, or innovative service that will radically improve or transform on-campus experiences for military-connected students. The work of the nominee(s) should exemplify the process of accelerating ideas, insights and technologies that improve any aspect of the education experience for military-connected students.
Examples of such innovations might include:
- Effective and innovative approaches to attracting, enrolling, or welcoming military-connected learners, including improvements to outreach, admissions, or onboarding practices.
- Tools, technologies, or well-designed processes that have achieved major improvements connecting military-connected students to federal or state benefits.
- Strong partnerships with community partners or industry, specifically those that have resulted in new GI Bill® registered apprenticeship programs or instituting policy.
- High-impact programs that improves the veteran and military-connected student experience in meaningful, measurable, and sustainable ways.
The common theme is a practice or research that identifies, implements, and accelerates the impact of technology or service on veteran care.
Nominations
Nominations are welcome from faculty, staff and military-connected learners; self-nominations are also permitted. They must include a statement regarding the nominee’s innovation, technology or service and its impact on veterans or military-connected students.
Participating or nominated institutions must be certified as a Veteran-Friendly School at Gold-, Silver-, or Bronze-level. MVAA may award up to 5 Innovators annually.
Submit a Nomination
To submit a nomination, please use this form. If you have additional documentation (PDFs, articles, letters of support, videos, etc.) to submit, please email them to MVAAStrategy@michigan.gov.
If you have questions regarding the nomination process or application, please email Joe Saur, Education Analyst, at saurj@michigan.gov.
The nomination deadline is Friday, April 17, 2026. Awards will be presented on May 12, 2026 at MVAA's annual Leadership Summit.
