Stony Brook University Professor Margaret Schedel has been selected by the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) to its 2026 Faculty Innovation Fellows, the third cohort of this competitive national program designed to empower faculty leaders to strengthen student outcomes and align academic programs with today’s workforce needs.
The Faculty Innovation Fellowship is a multi-phase experience that equips fellows with the tools, expert guidance and peer network needed to design, develop and launch high-impact initiatives at their institutions. Each fellow enters the program with a proposed capstone project and progresses through BHEF’s three-phase development process with input from cohort peers, BHEF Network Partners, staff and national experts. Fellows also build leadership and change-management skills, forge new employer partnerships and develop practices that extend well beyond their own classrooms. Fellows conclude the program with their capstone projects live in real-world settings across their respective institutions.
Schedel is a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Music, core faculty of the Institute of Advanced Computational Science (IACS) at Stony Brook University and formerly served as chair of the Department of Art. With an interdisciplinary career blending classical training in cello and composition, sound/audio data research and innovative computational arts education, Schedel transcends the boundaries of disparate fields to produce integrated work at the nexus of computation and the arts.
Schedel was selected in the discipline of Music (Computer Science) and was sponsored for the fellowship by Stony Brook University Provost and Executive Vice President Carl Lejuez.
“Congratulations to Meg Schedel for this fantastic opportunity to collaborate with this cohort of dedicated leaders,” said David Wrobel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “It’s wonderful to see her efforts in addressing the needs of our students while they are on their academic journey, and to develop initiatives that will help them further prepare for their future. I appreciate Meg’s expertise, enthusiasm and insight for making positive change.”
The 2026 cohort represents 22 fellows across 20 institutions in 15 states, spanning approximately 15 disciplines — from biomedical engineering and computer science to history, music and sustainability. Each Fellow was selected to launch or accelerate the adoption of novel or promising practices that expand student access to AI-enabled skills, credentials and career pathways, and that embed work-integrated learning experiences that prepare students for the workforce.
Nineteen of the 20 institutions represented are BHEF network partners, and approximately 80 percent are public institutions. The cohort includes seven R1 research universities, five regional comprehensive universities, five community colleges and access institutions, four private independent universities, and one public online institution. Four institutions are Hispanic-Serving Institutions.
“The 2026 Faculty Innovation Fellows represent the best of higher education — faculty who are deeply committed to their students’ success as demand for both AI-enabled skills and real-world experience continues to grow,” said Kristen Fox, CEO, Business-Higher Education Forum. “This cohort brings together leaders ready to connect the transformational power of a college experience to the workforce and ensure institutions are working with agility to prepare graduates for a rapidly evolving world of work.”
In 2025, Schedel was named among 25 emerging college and university leaders selected to the 2025-26 class of the American Council on Education® (ACE) Fellows Program.
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