Successful STEM projects, especially those aiming to influence cultural and structural changes, involve working across organizational levels (e.g., disciplines, departments, colleges, institutions). Funders and administrative directives encourage collaborative efforts but typically focus more on reform mission of the collaborative rather than the functional developmental components. Experience clearly shows there is more to creating and sustaining effective educational partnerships. First, using a partnership development model, this session will help participants identify challenges to partnership development and strategies to address them. Then, lessons learned will be shared from experiences connecting with colleagues across campus and suggestions offered on how to utilize a wide-range of team expertise in campus partnerships/teams. Participants interactively will explore practical steps that can help overcome challenges working in interdisciplinary teams. Next, this session will offer a look at research findings and insights from two multi-institutional collaborations, the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL), a network of 41 universities focused on preparing future faculty, and CIRTL's NSF INCLUDES launch pilot. Participants will learn what are the key activities and characteristics of individuals who can successfully span the boundary between their organization and a larger partnership collective in service to local and national reform goals.