Ad Astra Community Innovations Group, LLC is a minority women-owned business firm that provides consultation in the facilitation of processes to enhance the capacity of community and academic institutions supporting positive change with communities.

Drs. Watson-Thompson and Collie-Akers serve as principal partners and co-owners of Ad Astra with more than 20 years of experience in supporting processes that advance the capacity of community and/or academic initiatives to support meaningful change and systems improvements. The deep experience and expertise of Drs. Watson-Thompson and Collie-Akers is demonstrated by collectively more than 60 publications in the areas of community engagement, community and campus partnerships, participatory research, and community-based initiatives.

Additionally, the principals have produced more than 20 technical reports related to community assessments, evaluations, and capacity-building. As both Kansas natives, Drs. Collie-Akers and Watson-Thompson aspire to uplift the Kansas motto, “to the stars through difficulty”, including in the work that is facilitated.