The Office of Academic Innovation and Strategic Initiatives aids and supports faculty, students, schools and colleges, in the areas of new academic programs, online programs, academic innovation funding, and strategic partnerships with corporations, government agencies, and organizations.
The Office of Academic Innovation and Strategic Initiatives mission is to provide leadership for the development of strategic and innovative new academic programs. Consistent with the mission of Howard University, the Office of Academic Innovation will work collaboratively with faculty and staff to research, develop, and implement new programs designed to meet market demands and are consistent with Howard University strategic goals and objectives. It will stress a focus on interdisciplinary programs that utilize technology in the implementation and delivery.
The vision of the Office of Academic Innovation and Strategic Initiatives is to assist and support faculty and staff in producing research based opportunities to create innovative, accessible, and collaborative programs that furthers the mission of the University and expands the opportunity for global and non-traditional learners to receive a Howard University education.
Please send inquiries for the Office of Academic Innovation and Strategic Initiatives to oai@howard.edu
Dr. Barron Harvey
Associate Provost
Ke'Anna Skipwith
Director
Tara Linney
Program Manager
Janelle Black
Administrative Assistant
The Office of Academic Innovation & Strategic Initiatives (OAI) is committed to bringing awareness about opportunities and sharing resources that cultivate innovation and highlight its benefits to the Howard University community.
The Spring 2026 Inclusive Growth Thought Leadership Lecture Series features a fireside chat with Dr. Talitha Washington, Executive Director of Howard University’s Center for Applied Data Science & Analytics (CADSA), and Ashley Gatewood, Head of Change and Transformation Strategy at Google.
Note: This video contains all 3 sessions of the fireside chat events.
Howard University's "Project Management Essentials" course has emerged as the highest-ranking university course in Class Central's annual Top 100 Most Popular Online Courses ranking. The course placed 15th overall and stands as the #1 university-created course in a field dominated by corporate offerings from tech giants like Google, IBM, and Microsoft.
Click to read article.
The Yard at AfroTech U brought Howard alumni, students, faculty/staff, and HBCU peers together for networking, learning, and celebration.
Click to read the article.
Howard scholars celebrate the launch of the inclusive growth and racial equity thought leadership lecture series, data visualization, and the Black experience exhibit using the influential scholar’s data of W.E.B. DuBois.
Click to read the article.
The cross-institutional team is developing an Environmental Impact Data Collaborative to support the use of data to make environmental policy more effective and just.
Click to read about the Initiative.
