Registration and Continental Breakfast

Easley Pavilion

Opening Remarks

Easley Pavilion

Brian Cohen, Vice President, Center for Digital Education

AI in Higher Education: From Vision to Action

Easley Pavilion

Artificial Intelligence is dominating higher education conversations, from the conference room to the classroom, but moving from excitement to execution requires both a clear vision and a practical roadmap. This session blends strategic foresight with actionable guidance. Panelists will explore how AI can help institutional missions, support teaching and research, and drive administrative transformation. They will also share candid insights on vendor selection, priority use cases, faculty readiness, governance guardrails, and infrastructure needed to keep sensitive data secure. Learn more about real-world examples of AI in action, offering lessons learned and ways to identify replicable models.

Key Session Take-Aways:

Attendees will leave with information to add to their strategic and operational framework for AI adoption, how to align AI with institutional goals, and what replicable practices they should consider moving from vision to a sustainable, mission-driven implementation.

Networking Break

Easley Pavilion

The Future IT Workforce in Higher Education: People, Skills, and Sustainability

Easley Pavilion

Higher education IT organizations are facing a dual challenge: a shrinking talent pipeline and expanding demands. CIOs are competing with the private sector for scarce candidates, while rising costs and reduced funding force institutions to do more with less. At the same time, IT leaders must manage the human side of change — from faculty resistance to security requirements, to staff stretched by new compliance demands, to CIOs themselves wearing multiple hats (often CIO + ISO). This session will explore strategies for preparing the IT workforce of the future: building and retaining talent pipelines, reskilling existing teams, using automation wisely, and fostering cultures of adaptability and resilience. Panelists will also address how IT workforce planning ties directly to higher education’s larger challenge of demonstrating institutional value in a time of fiscal constraint.

Key Session Take-Aways:

Attendees will gain insight into strategies for sustaining IT capacity in a resource-constrained environment: how to recruit and retain talent, manage change and culture, and align workforce planning with the mission and financial realities of higher education.

CIO Challenges in Action: A Tabletop Leadership Exercise

Easley Pavilion

Every CIO faces a long list of challenges: cybersecurity, digital transformation, faculty adoption, enrollment pressures, governance, and more. This session begins with a panel setting the stage by surfacing today’s top CIO challenges. Attendees will then work in table groups taking on one challenge and developing a strategy to address it. Groups will report out their approaches, sparking discussion and shared learning across the room.

Key Session Take-Aways:

Attendees will work to address real-world problems, validating strategies for challenges they all face and leaving with fresh approaches vetted by peers.

Lunch and Networking

Easley Pavilion

Leaders Teaching Leaders: What Campus Executives Need from Technology

Easley Pavilion

IT leaders don’t operate in a vacuum — their work underpins the success of the entire institution. In this unique session, campus leaders such as provosts, CFOs, and student services executives will share directly what they expect from technology to advance their missions. From academic transformation to financial sustainability to student success, panelists will highlight how they see technology shaping the future of higher education.

Key Session Take-Aways:

Attendees will hear directly from senior campus executives about what they need and expect from IT, strengthening alignment and communication across leadership teams.

The Leadership Hub, Wrap Up & Closing Remarks

Easley Pavilion

What’s keeping you up at night? This wrap-up opens the floor—no script, no slides, just honest sharing of what’s hot, what’s hard, and what’s happening. You’ll walk away with insights, allies, and maybe a few laughs.

Brian Cohen, Vice President, Center for Digital Education

Ron Bergmann, Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Education

End of Conference

Conference times, agenda, and speakers are subject to change.