A new STEM-focused university is being built from scratch in Bentonville, Arkansas, commissioned by members of the Walton family and designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group. It joins the LearningWell Coalition while still in its founding stages, with a rare opportunity to embed student flourishing into the DNA of an institution before its first class arrives.

Rather than organizing education around lectures and disciplinary silos, the university will center learning on creating, testing, building, and improving real solutions to real problems. Students will work in multidisciplinary teams paired with internships and apprenticeships, supported by faculty who serve not only as instructors but as mentors invested in students’ identity, resilience, and sense of purpose alongside their technical growth. A flexible, stackable curriculum will allow students to enter, exit, and return to their education as their goals evolve.