Eric Alvarado
AVP Digital Strategy,
St. John's University
Built with Institutions: How Three Campuses Built AI on Their Own Terms
Wednesday, September 30, 2026 | 2:15PM–3:00PM MT | Meeting Room 504, Street Level
Session Type:
Breakout Session
Delivery Format:
Industry Insights Session
Most institutions have invested in AI and established the necessary infrastructure, yet coordinated implementation remains limited. Faculty, staff, and students often choose easily accessible consumer AI tools over approved options, leaving CIOs responsible for unseen risks and strategies that are not implemented in practice. This panel features IT and academic leaders from three institutions who proactively addressed adoption by building solutions. Each used Superhuman Go, an AI infrastructure platform informed by Grammarly's 17 years of experience in higher education, to integrate AI into daily workflows. Indian River State College built an AI fluency agent to bring faculty, staff, and students to a shared baseline of AI readiness. New Mexico State University built a course builder agent that turns approved source material into draft courses, then fact-checks them before faculty review. St. John's University built a library support agent that helps students and faculty search the library catalog for the academic resources they need. Despite their differences, all three institutions found that governed AI is adopted when it integrates with existing workflows and supports each group's specific needs. Join this candid discussion to learn what each institution built, the challenges they encountered, and their advice for CIOs.
