Community-Driven IAM Learning with Internet2's InCommon Academy
A Q&A with Jean Chorazyczewski
The InCommon Academy provides professional development and training options for the research and education communities who implement identity and access management (IAM) with Internet2's InCommon solutions and guidance. In the six years since the InCommon Academy was established, its educational priorities have reflected community needs and values — from securing seamless collaborations for researchers, to adapting to new modes of connected learning, to reaching new levels of global interconnectedness.
As InCommon Academy's director for more than two years, Jean Chorazyczewski has joined the conversations of the IAM community and guided the development of programs that bring together and inform IAM leaders and their teams. Here, we ask Chorazyczewski how the InCommon Academy serves IAM learning for the R&E community.
InCommon Academy in action with an Advance CAMP unconference activity at the Internet2 Technology Exchange (Photo courtesy Internet2. With permission.)
Mary Grush: Why is identity and access management critical for research and education? What drives InCommon Academy's value for the R&E community?
Jean Chorazyczewski: To the first part of your question, IAM is, at its heart, the gateway to everything in research and higher ed IT. It's both mission critical and uniquely complex in the R&E space. For example, IAM is how institutions onboard new students each year. It's how they enable faculty and staff to access teaching and learning platforms. It's how they grant access to visiting guests and scholars and how they provide secure access to services for those researchers who collaborate across institutional boundaries.
Universities must manage students, alumni, faculty, staff, and guests, as well as non-human entities like processes, APIs, and systems that factor into an IAM ecosystem. Keep in mind that any one person at an institution can have multiple roles — staff persons can also be alumni, or a student can also be an employee. Someone behind the scenes must manage all of those identities and all of that complexity — and IAM is not only important; it's also different at R&E institutions than it is in other industries.
IAM is not only important; it's also different at R&E institutions than it is in other industries.
IAM has become mission critical for our R&E communities. As our current InCommon steering committee chair put it, it has become as essential as electricity in modern higher ed. Solid IAM is the foundation everything has to build on.
Solid IAM is the foundation everything has to build on.
Grush: And InCommon offers both its IAM expertise and services to the R&E community, with training provided by the InCommon Academy?
Chorazyczewski: Yes. InCommon, which is part of Internet2, is here to empower inter-organizational collaboration. InCommon provides tailored IAM solutions, specialized tools, and guidance. The InCommon Academy supports these efforts with IAM learning experiences in the R&E space.
Grush: With all that's at stake with IAM for the R&E community, Internet2 must place significant focus and effort in the InCommon Academy.
Chorazyczewski: Yes it does. Back to your question: What's driving InCommon Academy's value for R&E? Our community is deeply familiar with all of the challenges around identity and access management and what's at stake when it's not running smoothly. InCommon and InCommon Academy will continue to evolve our programs, guidance, and services in direct response to what we hear from the R&E community in IAM.
Our community is deeply familiar with all of the challenges around identity and access management and what's at stake when it's not running smoothly.
We try to adapt to address real pain points. For example, we hear directly from IT leadership and IAM teams about things like: institutions having to meet new security or compliance requirements, or the hurdles faced as many institutions provision literally hundreds or thousands of identities across multiple user types every day. There's also a workforce challenge as we lose more staff to retirement. And lately, it's about pressures on IT organizations to do more with less.
Many institutions provision literally hundreds or thousands of identities across multiple user types every day.
A lot of what's happening right now in the technical landscape is managing hybrid environments, which is becoming the new normal. It means having to manage your existing legacy IAM systems as well as cloud-first commercial solutions, and how they all fit together.
Obviously, we can't and won't ignore artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. They're here. It's important to factor them into the way that institutions are having to modernize their IAM infrastructure to be ready for the future.
InCommon Academy is meant to bring R&E IT leadership together with IAM staff to address all of these moving parts — the challenges, the opportunities. We are purposefully creating a destination where these professionals can learn, grow, and advance IAM excellence together to meet evolving needs.
We offer relevant options, like hands-on software training and collaborative problem-solving programs. But our offerings are really all about community-driven learning experiences. We want those R&E IT professionals and IAM staff to build their skills, their knowledge, and get exposure to new insights so that they can apply what they learn to their own infrastructure, in their own "real world".
Our offerings are really all about community-driven learning experiences.
Grush: What examples stand out, of how InCommon is responsive to issues raised by the community? I know there are many, but could you pick just a few to highlight?
Chorazyczewski: Of course. One relatively new example is InCommon Thread Meetups. These are topical gatherings sparked by the community, identified through questions that are surfacing in discussion channels, or they may be emerging needs that we're noticing — covering everything from identity life cycle management to navigating hybrid IAM. These virtual convenings are free to attend, and we create a space for agile community knowledge sharing. They are usually led by peers who are navigating the topic firsthand.
InCommon Thread Meetups seem to be striking a chord with the community. Participants reflect on the complexities that the industry is facing, resulting in insights and sharing lessons learned. Ultimately, we synthesize those conversations and provide takeaways as a resource for the community.
InCommon Thread Meetups participants reflect on the complexities that the industry is facing, resulting in insights and sharing lessons learned.
Another example I have for you is our recently revised Grouper training.
Grouper is a unique open source software solution that offers access management capabilities. It fills a niche in the marketplace — there is no commercial product that's like it.
We revamped the training because it used to be a one-size-fits-all live training. But we heard the community; they needed more flexible learning pathways and an expanded curriculum. We created more on-demand and self-paced options that enable practitioners to learn when they need to, based on their personal schedules. We also updated content and expanded it so that it includes many more practical examples of real-world scenarios.
Our revamped Grouper training exemplifies the meet-learners-where-they-are approach that is a cornerstone of InCommon Academy.
Our revamped Grouper training exemplifies the meet-learners-where-they-are approach that is a cornerstone of InCommon Academy.
Another impactful example that I'm really excited about is our Accelerator programs. As the name might indicate, these are short, immersive programs that bring together professionals from diverse institutions for intensive learning on a targeted topic.
Participants learn, collaborate, and problem-solve. Of course, they get to learn from peers, but we also bring in experts and industry practitioners to present a structured path to advance strategies and implementation plans.
We are launching a Federation Accelerator that aims to help institutions move from getting started in the InCommon Federation, to learning how to deliver real value through access to services or meeting new security requirements.
We recently designed an Accelerator program that empowered nine New Jersey institutions to strengthen their federated identity capabilities. The goal was to help them enhance their collaboration ability, the ways they were connecting, and most importantly, how they were securely sharing their cyberinfrastructure resources through a federated environment.
We're going to be spinning up more targeted Accelerators going into 2026, probably with a general theme of IAM modernization — because so many institutions are going through that right now. That theme also ties back to some of the challenges I mentioned earlier: all the technology changes in the landscape, the pressures to do more with less, and the need to address workforce and succession issues.
We're going to be spinning up more targeted Accelerators going into 2026, probably with a general theme of IAM modernization — because so many institutions are going through that right now.
For yet another example, we're in the middle of developing something called Identity Foundations. It's training for IAM practitioners who need a deeper understanding of the fundamental building blocks of identity management. It moves beyond the basics to help them explore architectural implications and interdependencies. Identity Foundations can help build skills for people who perhaps are new to their role in IAM, or new to the field, or both.
Identity Foundations can help build skills for people who perhaps are new to their role in IAM, or new to the field, or both.
Lastly, I'll mention a popular community feature that happens near the end of the Internet2 Technology Exchange conference. It's Advance CAMP, or ACAMP. It's an unconference, and that really is a core draw. It's where the attendees actually design the agenda on the spot, during the last two days of the conference, with all the things that they want to talk about. It's engaging. It's energetic. And we can facilitate peer learning and shared experience.
The community doesn't just consume InCommon Academy training. They shape it. They bring their lived experience to the table.
For those interested in the unconference experience, the next ACAMP is coming up in Denver in December, when the community gathers for the 2025 Technology Exchange.
The community doesn't just consume InCommon Academy training. They shape it. They bring their lived experience to the table.
These examples shine a light on how we're responsive to the needs of the IAM and R&E communities. Perhaps as important, we're building lasting resources and community connections. That connection piece is the secret sauce and what institutions can depend on.
We're building lasting resources and community connections. That connection piece is the secret sauce and what institutions can depend on.
Grush: How would you characterize the size or growth over time of InCommon Academy? Can you give us a sense of its future?
Chorazyczewski: Since 2024 alone, we've engaged more than 1,100 professionals through our IAM online webinar series. We have supported 150-plus participants who've taken technical training. We have welcomed nearly 200-plus attendees at our Thread Meetups and hosted 200-plus learners at InCommon BaseCAMP, which is our flagship IAM fundamentals program.
To extend a bit further out, Internet2 Technology Exchange — that's one of our major anchor events — gathered about 800-plus attendees in 2024, with the Identity and Access Management track one of the most well-attended.
But it's not just about the numbers; even though numbers clearly are important, and we want to reach as many people as we can. Instead, our intent is to position the research and education community for the future, because change is happening. We hear it every day: Keeping up with all of these changes and challenges is like trying to hit a moving target for many institutions because they're juggling multiple priorities and multiple scenarios.
Our intent is to position the research and education community for the future, because change is happening.
With InCommon and InCommon Academy, we offer a highly connected learning experience. What I mean by that is, we can strengthen foundational IAM knowledge and technical skills alongside community connection.
We also want to accelerate strategic planning for new IAM initiatives the community may be embarking upon. With that, we can support CIOs, IT leaders, and IAM teams in staying ahead of emerging trends.
InCommon Futures2, a five-year roadmap that lays out a bold vision for InCommon, projects that in the next five years, InCommon will step further into the role of collective authority for IAM best practices in the R&E space. With InCommon Academy, we'll be here to support that organizational change and growth.
I think as InCommon grows, and as these IAM challenges continue to become more complex, InCommon Academy will be ready with more flexible, interactive, community-driven learning opportunities. That will ensure CIOs, IT leaders, and IAM teams have a place to go where they can grow and thrive, even though the technology landscape is changing, seemingly by the minute.
As InCommon grows and as these IAM challenges continue to become more complex, InCommon Academy will be ready with more flexible, interactive, community-driven learning opportunities.
InCommon and InCommon Academy are challenge-focused, not product-focused. We look at IAM through the lens of what R&E institutions truly need to accomplish.
What excites me about leading InCommon Academy through all this growth is that we're serving a mission-critical community need. We're building something that is genuinely innovative in how we approach professional development and institutional development in this whole identity and access management space. You can explore the full slate of InCommon Academy offerings on our web site. I'm looking forward to what's next — and to reaching more people who can count on us as a resource.