ASSERT Application

Requirements

You must be full-time faculty (of any rank/title) at Boise State who is interested in being a part of a cohort that will learn together, build community, and move your research and creative activities forward. 

Before final acceptance into the program, we will require your Department Chair, Dean, and the Provost to sign an MOU regarding your participation in the program that makes it clear that this is considered scholarly activity towards your workload and annual review criteria. In addition to the listed requirements, you must be available for:

Regular meetings throughout spring semester; the dates of these meetings will be announced soon.

Two (2) retreats held Friday evening through Sunday afternoon

• Winter Retreat: January 30-February 1, 2026  (tentative)
• Spring Retreat: April 24-26, 2025 (tentative)

Application Process

The application for Cohort 10 is open.

Apply Now to the ASSERT Program

The ASSERT application will ask you to:

• indicate your availability for both meeting times and both retreats,
• answer three questions (see in following section), and
• upload your CV. 

Three Questions

Each application question requires a specific response method. The questions and required response method are outlined as follows. 

Why do you want to participate in the ASSERT 2026 cohort?

Required Response Method: Write a haiku which is a traditional form of Japanese poetry that consists of 3 lines that rarely rhyme – the first and last lines have 5 syllables and the middle line has 7 syllables.

What is one thing that you will bring to the cohort?

Required Response Method: Write a “postcard” that includes a photo and caption with no more than 10 words.

What is one thing that you wish to learn from the experience?

Required Response Method: Write a newspaper headline with no more than 80 characters.

ASSERT Application

Testament

Fellows from previous years say this about the program:

“I think what stands out most are the connections and interpersonal relationships that I made as part of being in ASSERT, as well as the visibility it provided me….These connections make me feel a part of a bigger research community…I also appreciate the sustained emphasis on thinking bigger.”– Previous Fellow

“The ASSERT program transformed the way I view scholarship. It helped me to identify my primary values as a researcher and teacher and empowered me to create a path of genuine engagement. The impacts of this program will stay with me throughout my career.” – Previous Fellow

Logistics

We will meet regularly during spring semester as a learning community. Over the summer, ASSERT fellows will work to develop a short pitch about a transformative research idea that will be presented to a diverse group of campus and community leaders and stakeholders early in the fall semester. In support of sustaining this activity, there will be the opportunity to create a Vertically Integrated Project (VIP) team related to your research question the following year.

Learning Outcomes

As a community, we will explore how to pursue transformative research ideas from initial question to implementation. Our areas of investigation will include:

1. broadening horizons on scholarship
2. what attitudes and skills are needed to work in bold areas of inquiry,
3. how to adopt a growth mindset and embrace an enterprising mentality,
4. how to balance the vital tension between productivity and innovation on and off campus,
5. how to succeed in spite of known bias against innovation on and off campus,
6. how to create and sustain a risk-tolerant research portfolio via a Vertically Integrated Project,
7. how to successfully hold crucial conversations in support of taking risk and moving your ideas forward, and
8. how to nurture career-long relationships in support of a lifetime of scholarly impact.

ASSERT Leadership Team

Leslie Atkins

Professor, Department of Teaching, Learning, and Community Engagement (TLCE)

Jim Fredricksen

Director, Institute for Inclusive & Transformative Scholarship