Wednesday, September 30, 2026 from 11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m. MT (lunch included)
Thursday, October 1, 2026 from 11:30 a.m.–12:45 p.m MT (lunch included)
EDUCAUSE Members Registration Fee: $545
Non Members Registration Fee: $670
**Registration for the 2026 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference is required.
AI adoption remains dynamic across higher education. It’s shaping institutional priorities, budgets, and expectations for how work gets done. Senior leaders are navigating both realities at once: supporting responsible adoption today while making longer-term decisions about funding, governance, and organizational direction for tomorrow. They’re doing so often with limited time and imperfect information.
This leadership series, offered as two 90-minute lunch sessions, is designed for senior leaders and other decision-makers responsible for informing institutional strategy. Conversations will focus on how to sustain and fund AI beyond pilots, skills for the implementation phase of AI, and navigating the organizational and cultural implications as AI becomes more embedded across the institution. These sessions emphasize leadership judgment, peer insights, and lessons leaders can apply, whether they are still working through adoption or preparing for long-term AI integration.
By the end of the leadership series, participants will be able to:
- Describe the leadership challenges that arise as institutions balance ongoing AI adoption with longer-term integration and sustainability.
- Examine approaches to funding and supporting AI enablement beyond pilots and implementation, including trade-offs related to scale, risk, and institutional priorities.
- Analyze the organizational and cultural implications of AI, including impacts on teams, collaboration, leadership expectations, and decision-making.
- Apply early lessons learned from senior leaders at peer institutions to inform leadership decisions in an AI-enabled higher education environment.
This leadership series supports leaders across diverse higher education contexts by providing peer-informed perspectives and leadership insight to guide responsible, sustainable decision-making in an AI-enabled institution.
Join the EDUCAUSE community group after the event with individuals you met or would like to meet from the community. A set of artificial intelligence resources prepared with the leadership perspective in mind will be provided.
Presenters and Panelists
Day 1
Who Should Lead AI? A point-counterpoint on leadership, structure, and the rise of the Chief AI Officer
Rebuilding the Technology Organization for an AI Era: How AI is reshaping IT roles, teams, priorities, and operating models
Day 2
Paying for AI: Funding models, tradeoffs, sustainability, and institutional investment
How to Register
In order to participate in the Leadership Series, you’ll need to add it as an additional item as part of your 2026 EDUCAUSE Annual Conference registration.
- Go to the EDUCAUSE Registration page and click on the red “Register Now” button to register for the conference.
- On the Registration page select FC – Full Conference
- On the Preconference Programming page add EDUCAUSE Leadership Series | Beyond Adoption: Leading in an AI-Enabled Institution.
- Complete your registration and join us in Denver.