At Southern New Hampshire University, President Lisa Marsh Ryerson sees artificial intelligence as a key to expanding access and diversity in higher education, which is central to her passion for leading an open-access institution.
“We had graduates from ages 14 to 82 of every identity at our last ceremony,” she says. “I stood up at graduation, and I looked out at thousands of people and thought, ‘This is our nation at its best.'”
The Blueprint is a bi-monthly column that analyzes strategic trends among college and university presidents and chancellors across diverse sectors of higher education.
AI removes administrative burdens from onboarding and enrollment in a shift that particularly benefits non-traditional students who are middle-aged, military veterans or carrying credits but no credentials.
Automating transcript and credit evaluations, for example, frees up staff to provide personalized attention to applicants seeking clarity and confidence in their academic pathway.
Similarly, AI will soon play a pivotal role in analyzing attendance, academic performance, and other critical indicators of student success. This will provide student affairs personnel with better data and clearer strategies when counseling learners, Ryerson predicts.
“Some of the quickly emerging AI agents and tools should lead us to a place in the future where we can serve more learners wisely, so that they can persist and receive their degrees and credentials.”
Ryerson views artificial intelligence as a “powerful coworker.” James Birge, president of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, expresses a similar sentiment when trying to reassure staff who are concerned they will be replaced by AI.
Turning the college’s admissions hotline over to an AI chatbot has allowed staff to focus on recruiting prospective students in new markets.
President moves: LSU restructures its leadership hierarchy as 3 proven presidents retire
“It doesn’t mean that staff members aren’t needed,” Birge says. “There’s plenty of work to be done, and now staff have the opportunity to do something that was getting pushed to the side. AI is disruptive in that it disrupts our familiar way of working.”
AI and ‘the center of technology’
Career-focused, experiential learning meets the needs of students who must learn new skills to succeed in a changing job market, says Cynthia Teniente-Matson, president of San Jose State University.
“We’re moving from a search-and-retrieval economy to a generative, line-of-inquiry economy,” she says. “We must think about how our strategy around adapting to AI integrates into teaching, learning and efficiency. We have a lot of work to do to keep up.”
As the leader of a public research university in the heart of Silicon Valley, Teniente-Matson seeks industry partners who will expose students to the latest technological tools and skills required in today’s market.
San Jose State also benefits from the state university system’s partnership with OpenAI that grants students, staff and faculty unprecedented access and training with ChatGPT.
“There are industry leaders on our campus every day working with our students in our various academic departments on the innovation economy and AI in general,” Teniente-Matson says. “That is truly a differentiator when you can be in the center of that technology and listen to these key leaders talk.”
