On Wednesday April 12 as a pre-convention session to the American Education Research Association’s (AERA) Annual Convention in Chicago, CUEL’s Cosner and Barron along with two other UIC College of Education Faculty Members (Cathy Main and Vicki Trinder) led an afternoon session hosted by the EdPrepLab. The session explored what it takes to establish and strengthen an assortment of diverse partnerships (e.g., local school districts, community agencies, city government) within a college of education for local impact. UIC’s College of Education, which orients around a vision of community engagement, has nurtured an array of formal partnerships with organizations and agencies in its community. At this session, Cosner collaborated with Sarah Dickson, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Director of External Research to share key insights about the formation, development, and work of the C2 Research Practice Partnership that exists between the CUEL and CPS.  Barron collaborated with Devin Swartley, CPS Director of School Leadership Pipeline to share similar insights in relation to UIC’s Ed.D. program which prepares and develops principals for CPS. University faculty from colleges of education around the US were in attendance for this half day session.