Pre-Meeting Workshops

The role of the provost is increasingly described as one of the most challenging on campus and yet it can also be one of the most satisfying. This workshop supports provosts (aspiring provosts, those who are provost-adjacent, and those whose role it is to support provosts) who are serving in interim roles, navigating changes in presidential leadership, or stepping into the provost role after significant turnover. Case studies will be used for small group discussion and whole group discussion to explore:

• The unique leadership challenges and opportunities of serving as an interim provost.
• Strategies for navigating presidential transitions while maintaining institutional momentum.
• Approaches for establishing credibility and stability following multiple provost turnovers.
• Strengthening decision-making and communication practices during governance conflict and institutional uncertainty.

The session combines strategy, peer learning, governance scenarios, and action planning so you will leave with practical ideas you can use immediately.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant consideration for higher education—it is actively reshaping how students learn, how faculty teach, and how institutions operate. This pre-conference workshop offers a comprehensive, practice-oriented exploration of AI's growing role across the academic enterprise, moving beyond hype and anxiety to focus on actionable strategies, improved pedagogy, workforce and civic preparation, and institutional readiness. Rather than treating these as separate conversations, this pre-conference workshop emphasizes how institutions can align them into a coherent, forward-looking strategy. Key topics will include AI literacy, agentic AI, faculty development, student flourishing, the future of work, and ethical AI stewardship in a rapidly changing dynamic. Through a mix of framework-building, case examples, and structured discussion, participants will leave with practical tools for assessing their institution's current AI readiness, a shared vocabulary for engaging stakeholders across the institution, and concrete next steps for advancing AI-related initiatives on their own campuses.

Higher education faces unrelenting pressure to adapt rapidly, prove its public value, and deliver educational renewal. Yet Chief Academic Officers often encounter structural friction from procedural inertia, campus politics, entrenched governance, and business operations. Sustainable institutional momentum requires cultivating strategic academic trust capital by engaging faculty where their pedagogical craft and the institution’s core mission—teaching excellence and student learning outcomes—drive institutional vitality through intentional design. Faculty governance and the teaching mission are among higher education's core pillars, and this moment calls for their renewal.

This dynamic 3-hour workshop moves beyond abstract theory to offer practical strategies for academic leadership. Drawing on multi-institution case studies, participants will examine how Chief Academic Officers partner with academic innovation and educational development units to align faculty engagement in teaching excellence with student success and shared institutional purpose.