The Academic Data Science Alliance (ADSA) is a newly launched initiative to advance the uptake of data science best practices in higher education. ADSA seeks to support efforts by and for university researchers to learn, use, and teach data-intensive tools and responsible applications, including the institutional changes needed to integrate data science into university research and training. By building networks of academic data science practitioners (including faculty, students, staff, and administrators), ADSA enables better sharing of knowledge, ideas, and lessons learned. ADSA grew out of the Moore-Sloan Data Science Environments and borrows heavily from the culture and values of this partnership. The ADSA initiative is funded for the next 3+ years, but we expect to secure additional funding to extend the work of the Alliance beyond the initial start up phase.