Center of Excellence for Leadership & Innovation

The Center of Excellence for Leadership & Innovation (CELI) at Sacred Heart University addresses critical challenges facing schools, businesses and communities in ensuring equity and access for all constituents.

Our interdisciplinary approach brings together experts from education, psychology, neuroscience and other fields to serve as knowledge-brokers. They will work with partners to provide professional development, technical assistance and research-based strategies to co-create innovative solutions and build capacity. Through collaborative partnerships with community organizations, businesses, schools and districts, CELI is a catalyst for transformative change that democratizes knowledge, empowers leadership and creates welcoming environments where everyone can flourish.

Mission

To advance social justice through transformative research, evidence-based technical assistance and collaborative partnerships that foster belonging and leadership. CELI bridges research to practice across disciplines, empowering communities to create equitable learning environments where all individuals develop the social-emotional skills and context-related competencies needed to thrive personally, professionally and academically.

Vision

By contributing to schools, businesses and community organizations through problem-solving partnerships, CELI will promote collective well-being, social justice and individual and collective belonging and success.

What we do

CELI puts into practice SHU’s mission and commitment to social justice by engaging in transformational research, providing just-in-time evidence-based technical assistance and serving as a thought partner in addressing the critical and time-sensitive issues of belonging and leadership in our community and beyond. CELI supports innovation and improvement by:

• Providing a structure for collaboration among diverse experts who share knowledge, experience and best practices and promote collective excellence across multiple disciplines
• Centralizing information through increased communication, synchronization of research efforts and outcomes and democratization of knowledge applicable to belonging and leadership
• Building capacity through strategic efforts that build collective efficacy and intentional and inclusive synergism for excellence
• Serving as an agent of change through shared support for cross-disciplinary teaming
• Providing technical assistance to communities to improve life outcomes through improved well-being and achievement
• Promoting sharing of resources and development of efficiencies
• Implementing a robust, innovative and industry leading organizational approach to problems of practice, professional learning, and technical assistance to supporters, benefactors and stakeholders

Explore Our Work

Interested in collaborating with CELI?

The center partners with schools, districts, businesses and organizations to address context-specific challenges and projects with tailored solutions. References are available upon request. Contact the program director to explore whether the center is the right fit for your needs.