Case Study: How Valpo’s Collaboratory Unlocked Campus Expertise with Scholarly

Summary

When Valparaiso University sought to connect faculty expertise with industry partners, they faced significant challenges: fragmented data, hidden talent, and a gap between academic and industry language. By implementing Scholarly, Valpo leveraged AI-powered expertise tagging, natural-language search, and rich faculty profiles to break down silos and make campus talent instantly discoverable. The Collaboratory Phase One Report highlights rapid wins, including real-time matchmaking, reduced duplicate data entry, and improved translation of academic skills for industry needs. Scholarly is now recommended as “core infrastructure” and a model for other research institutions. The next phase aims to expand these benefits across campus, integrating Scholarly into grant-seeking, student projects, and workforce initiatives.

What challenges did Valparaiso University face before using Scholarly? * Valpo struggled with fragmented faculty data, hidden expertise, and difficulty translating academic terms for industry partners. (Collaboratory Phase One Report)
How did Scholarly address these issues? * Scholarly’s AI parsed documents to tag expertise in industry-friendly language, enabled natural-language search for quick matches, and built comprehensive faculty profiles.
What immediate benefits did Valpo experience? * Staff could match faculty to external partners in real time, faculty avoided duplicate data entry, and industry partners found the right experts without confusion.
Is Scholarly recommended for other institutions? * Yes, the report calls Scholarly a “core infrastructure piece” and suggests it as a model for other Emerging Research Institutions.
What are the next steps for Valpo and Scholarly? * Phase Two will expand Scholarly’s use to more faculty and integrate it into broader campus initiatives, making expert connections even more accessible.

“Industry-friendly tags replace jargon, preventing those ‘lost-in-translation’ moments that stall collaborations.”
“The report calls Scholarly a ‘core infrastructure piece’ and recommends it as a model for other Emerging Research Institutions.”

Ready to unlock your institution’s hidden expertise? Book a 20-minute demo and see how Scholarly transforms scattered data into an AI-powered talent directory—no spreadsheets required.

Jun 4, 2025

When Valparaiso University set out to connect faculty know‑how with regional industry, they faced a familiar hurdle: decades of CVs, syllabi, and grant records scattered across spreadsheets and siloed systems. In their new Collaboratory Phase One Report, the team shares why they chose Scholarly—and the outsized impact the platform delivered in just a few months. Here’s the story, distilled for our community.

The Challenge

Hidden talent. External partners couldn’t easily discover the right professor for a fast‑moving project.
Multiple data silos. Faculty were re‑entering activity data into several platforms, draining precious hours.
Academic‑to‑industry translation gap. Search terms like “polymer micelles” rarely match a company’s phrasing (“drug‑delivery systems”).

(Source: Collaboratory Phase One Report)

The Scholarly Solution

Valpo loaded 30 pilot faculty into Scholarly and let our AI do the heavy lifting:

Feature	What it did for Valpo
AI‑powered expertise tagging	Parsed CVs, presentations, and syllabi, then attached plain‑language keywords that resonate with industry partners.
Scholarly AI Assistant	Allowed staff (and even company reps) to ask natural‑language questions like “Who can help a pharma startup?” and receive curated matches in seconds.
Rich faculty profiles	Embedded media, tag panels, and quick‑share links so expertise is one click away from action.

Early Wins

Real‑time matchmaking. External Relations staff now surface the right researcher while still in the room with a partner—no email chains required.
Bridging the language divide. Industry‑friendly tags replace jargon, preventing those “lost‑in‑translation” moments that stall collaborations.
Less duplicate entry. Faculty members provide raw materials to indicate expertise: syllabi, notes, presentations, and PDFs. There's no need to manually or painstakingly extract relevant information from these documents.
Campus‑wide visibility. The report calls Scholarly a “core infrastructure piece” and recommends it as a model for other Emerging Research Institutions.

What’s Next

Phase Two will scale the prototype beyond the initial 30 faculty, weaving Scholarly into grant‑seeking, student projects, and regional workforce initiatives. If Valpo’s early results are any indication, the best‑fit expert will soon be just a search—or a chat—away for every stakeholder on campus.