Our Story
We founded Academic Advance Partners because we witnessed the unnecessary divide between research and teaching and its cost to faculty, students, and institutions.
We have walked this path from both sides. As faculty members, we loved both discovering knowledge and sharing it with students. We experienced the exhaustion of navigating the tension in systems that positioned teaching and research and competitive activities, and we watched talented colleagues leave faculty positions because the tension became unsustainable.
As administrators supporting teaching and research endeavors, we worked to create conditions for faculty success. From this vantage point, we saw different challenges: well-intentioned policies that inadvertently created barriers, competing institutional priorities that limited resources, the complexity that comes with changing systems, honoring different faculty needs and institutional traditions. We saw faculty struggling within existing structures to excel and thrive as teacher scholars.
From both perspectives, we witnessed the potential. We saw what becomes possible when institutions create conditions where research enriches teaching and teaching inspires research: Faculty who thrive in both roles. We established this company to support institutions to realize this potential.
Our partners bring decades of combined experience navigating and addressing research-teaching tensions across diverse institutional contexts. Our complementary expertise, combining passion for and knowledge of teaching and research support administration positions us to help institutions bridge the research-teaching divide.
Our Team
Cheryl Neale-McFall, PhD
Academic Advanced Partners was co-founded from a deeply personal insight shaped during my journey through my three graduate programs. What consistently stood out were professors who actively integrated their own research into the courses they taught, bringing inquiry to life rather than relying solely on past scholarship. Those experiences clarified a powerful truth: research and teaching are not competing responsibilities, but mutually reinforcing ones. When research is woven into the classroom, it is no longer silent, and faculty no longer feel forced to choose between advancing knowledge and educating students. This philosophy is at the heart of our work.
Professionally, I bring extensive experience in faculty development, research administration, and academic leadership, supported by advanced graduate training (M.S., M.S.Ed., Ph.D.) and the opportunity to serve in various leadership roles such as Associate Provost for Research and Creative Activity, Interim Dean for the College of Education and Social Work, and Chairperson, Graduate Coordinator and Assessment Coordinator for the departments of Counselor Education and Public Policy. My work spans teaching, research, assessment, and strategic consulting, with a focus on helping institutions align mission, faculty roles, and academic priorities in sustainable and meaningful ways.
Naomie Nyanungo, PhD
Working as a professor was a dream job for me. I loved teaching and all that came with it: planning for instruction, connecting with students, and sometimes even grading assignments. I also loved the research side, exploring new ideas and contributing to my field. But somewhere along the way, the joy faded. To be successful as a scholar excelling in both research and teaching meant working all the time, or feeling guilty about not working. And that was before adding service to the mix. My experience is not unique. As a university administrator, I work with faculty members who share that same tension of feeling stretched between teaching, research, and service. I am convinced it does not have to be that way. We can develop systems that support scholars to intentionally and strategically integrate teaching and research.
As a consultant, I draw on a Ph.D. in Adult Education and years of experience in educational and faculty development across different types of institutions. I have created faculty development programs, led institution-wide initiatives, and used my roots in community organizing to bring people together around a shared vision for change. I am a strategic and persistent systems builder who believes that even the most serious work deserves a little joy.
At the heart of my work is a deep belief in education as a vehicle for transformation. I am committed to building systems that support faculty because when faculty are successful, student success follows.
Our Guiding Values
Integration Over Division: We believe the research-teaching divide is a structural problem, not a natural state. Research and teaching should complement and strengthen each other. Our work centers on creating this integration.
Systems Change Over Individual Solutions: Integration fails when we expect individual faculty to bridge structural divides through personal effort. Real change requires examining and redesigning the policies, practices, and resource allocation systems that create fragmentation.
Evidence-Based Practice: Our recommendations are grounded in research about what works. We continuously assess outcomes and adjust our approaches based on evidence. We measure what matters: faculty well-being, research productivity, teaching quality, and student engagement.
Capacity Building Over Dependency: We measure success not by our deliverables, but by your capacity to sustain and expand integration work after we are gone. We are committed to developing internal expertise, building leadership capabilities, and creating systems that endure.
Partnership Over Prescription: We bring expertise and frameworks, but you bring knowledge of your institution, students, and culture. Together, we co-create approaches to integration that work for your specific context. One size does not fit all.