Institute Faculty

Rob Nelson

Rob Nelson

Executive Director for Academic Technology & Planning, Office of the Provost, University of Pennsylvania

Rob Nelson is the Executive Director for Academic Technology & Planning in the Office of the Provost at the University of Pennsylvania. He and his team manage academic systems at Penn, including those supporting graduate admissions, faculty information, and course evaluations. He works closely with the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Innovation, the Libraries, and the twelve schools at Penn to plan and implement new technology that supports teaching and learning. He has a PhD in American History from Rutgers University and has taught courses in cultural and educational history that explore the way slavery, gender roles, technology, and social justice movements have shaped institutions and individuals in the United States. He currently teaches a course about the history of higher education at Penn GSE. Rob writes AI Log, a blog about how generative AI is impacting education.


Areas of Expertise

  • History of education
  • History of technology
  • Institutional change
  • Philosophy of AI
  • Social contexts of AI
  • Technology and higher education