Closing the AI Gap: From Early Adopters to Smart Ops

While 85% of higher education professionals believe artificial intelligence can significantly improve the efficiency of academic operations, the gap between potential and practice remains wide. Currently, only 11% of institutions are using AI to support these critical functions, often citing budget constraints, lack of technical expertise and data privacy concerns as primary hurdles.

Join an in-depth exploration of how institutions are moving beyond curiosity to implement genuine, data-driven solutions. We will review the latest American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) survey results to understand the current landscape of AI adoption, implementation timelines and the specific barriers keeping non-users on the sidelines.

Guest panelists Dr. James Whitney, associate provost at Mercer County Community College, Howard Miller, CIO at UCLA Anderson School of Management and Dr. Greg Thomas, vice president at Isothermal Community College, will share their perspectives on how their institutions are preparing for and currently using AI.

What the webinar will cover:

• The Reality of AI Today: A deep dive into AACRAO's findings on institutional confidence, decision-making authority and the most common AI applications in academic operations.
• The Vision for Academic Operations: A look at emerging AI capabilities designed to transform how institutions manage academic operations — from eliminating manual workflows and unifying campus data to surfacing predictive insights that support smarter, faster decisions.
• Practical Campus Applications: Insights from institutional leaders on how they are navigating and implementing AI from an academic, technical and change management perspective.