NASH Launches First National AI Advisory Board Built Exclusively for Public Higher Education Systems

Sitting and emeritus chancellors, system presidents, and chief AI officers convene to build practical AI readiness resources for the nation’s public university systems

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH) today announced the launch of the NASH AI Advisory Board, the first national AI effort built exclusively for public university systems. The landmark initiative convenes sitting and emeritus chancellors, system presidents, and chief AI officers to leverage collective scale and move public higher education from isolated campus experimentation toward coordinated, sustainable system-level AI readiness.

Across the field, institutions and associations are developing valuable guidance, pilots, policies, and approaches to AI. The NASH AI Advisory Board’s mission is anchored in systemness, bringing together collective expertise to develop practical resources that help public higher education systems assess readiness, strengthen institutional capacity, and advance responsible AI practices within their unique contexts. The goal of this work is to add a distinct system-level lens to build shared capacity, address common risks, and prepare millions of learners for an AI-enabled economy.

“No single campus can address all of the questions AI presents for public higher education on its own. But systems, working together, can build the shared capacity and practical approaches this moment requires,” said Nancy L. Zimpher, President of NASH. “This advisory board gives our members and partners a place to bring their collective expertise to these challenges and strengthen AI readiness across the sector. That is systemness in action.”

 

Designed for Policy, Not Specific Tools

AI moves faster than products can be built. Rather than tying its work to point-in-time applications, the board assesses the governance, leadership, workforce, and decision-making capabilities that remain valuable no matter which platform is in place. Its frameworks are developmental rather than compliance-driven: no binary scorecards, but instruments that surface pockets of campus excellence, name enterprise risk, and move systems from assessment to action.

“As a chancellor of a state system for a decade, there is no more urgent work than helping state systems respond at speed and scale to the emergence of AI,” said Mark Hagerott, Chair of the AI Advisory Board, NASH Senior Fellow, and Former Chancellor of the North Dakota University System. “Our work is to build the governance capacity and decision-making agility that system leaders need, and to do it collaboratively, with the people who carry responsibility for entire systems. By making our charge, rosters, and milestones public, we are setting a national benchmark for what serious system-level AI leadership looks like.”

 

Three Public Deliverables

The board’s five specialized workgroups are developing three interconnected resources for the sector:

1. System AI Readiness Self-Assessment: A practical self-assessment that helps public higher education systems evaluate organizational readiness across areas such as governance, policy, data infrastructure, security and privacy, workforce capacity, operations, teaching and learning, student success, and ethics.
2. AI Readiness Playbook: An implementation guide aligned to the assessment that provides practical recommendations, examples from the field, and both short-term and long-term strategies for building AI readiness across public higher education systems.
3. Thought Leadership: Briefs, case studies, presentations, webinars, and conference sessions designed to share project findings and resources broadly across the higher education community.

“Every system is starting from a different place, and the resources we are building respect that,” said Claire Brady, Lead AI Strategist and Advisor for the NASH AI Advisory Board. “The goal is not to prescribe one approach across every campus. It is to help system leaders understand where shared capacity exists, where greater alignment is needed, and where the system can help individual institutions move further and faster together.”

 

Five Areas of Strategic Focus

The board’s efforts are organized across five workgroups, each chaired by a member of the Steering Committee:

• Teaching & Learning: Exploring how AI is reshaping teaching, learning, assessment, and faculty work, with a focus on educational quality and student learning. Chair: Gloria Niles, Chief Academic Technology Innovation Officer, University of Hawaiʻi System
• Student Success & Advising: Exploring how AI can enhance student support, engagement, and outcomes while promoting equitable, student-centered experiences. Chair: Tristan Denley, Deputy Commissioner of Academic Affairs and Innovation, Louisiana Board of Regents
• Data Infrastructure & Privacy: Exploring the data, technology, infrastructure, security, and privacy foundations necessary for responsible and scalable AI adoption. Chair: Anupam Joshi, Vice Provost and Chief AI Officer, University of Maryland Baltimore County
• Governance, Ethics & Risk: Examining the policies, governance structures, and organizational capacities needed to balance responsible innovation, accountability, ethics, and risk. Chair: Mike Christakis, Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment, University at Albany (SUNY)
• Operational Capacity & Efficiency: Identifying opportunities to leverage AI to strengthen operational effectiveness, workforce productivity, and organizational capacity. Chair: Kollin Napier, Director, Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network (MAIN), Mississippi Community College Board

Initiative leadership includes Jessica Todtman, Executive Vice President, NASH; Mark Hagerott, Board Chair and NASH Senior Fellow, Former Chancellor, North Dakota University System; Claire Brady, Lead AI Strategist and Advisor, NASH, and President, Glass Half Full Consulting; and Kelvin Bentley, Director of the Community of Practice on Microcredentials, NASH.

“AI is no longer simply an emerging technology; it has critical and lasting implications for student success, academic governance, and institutional capacity,” said Jessica Todtman, Executive Vice President of NASH. “By leveraging the collective power of public systems, we are moving public higher education beyond fragmented, isolated campus experimentation toward a cohesive, scalable model of readiness.”

 

Timeline

The board launched in July 2026 with the standing up of workgroups and confirmation of its strategic foundation. Workgroups will develop the assessment and playbook through Fall 2026, followed by review, refinement, and validation over Winter 2026 to 2027. National publication and dissemination across NASH member systems begins in Spring 2027.

For more information on the NASH AI Advisory Board, including complete workgroup rosters, guiding principles, and project updates, visit nash.edu/AI.

 

About NASH

Founded in 1979, the National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH) works to advance the role of multi-campus systems and the concept of systemness to create a more vibrant and sustainable higher education sector. NASH represents the 110 public higher education systems in the U.S., which include more than 1,450 institutions and serve 16.2 million students nationwide. Learn more at www.nash.edu.

 

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NASH AI Advisory Board Full Roster

The NASH AI Advisory Board comprises 35 leaders from public higher education systems, campuses, and the broader AI field. Workgroup chairs also serve on the board’s Steering Committee, which sets direction across all five workgroups.

 

INITIATIVE LEADERSHIP

Jessica Todtman, Executive Vice President, NASH

Mark Hagerott (Chair), Senior Fellow, NASH; Former Chancellor, North Dakota University System

Claire Brady, Lead AI Strategist & Advisor, NASH

Kelvin Bentley, Director, Community of Practice on Microcredentials, NASH

 

TEACHING & LEARNING

Exploring how AI is reshaping teaching, learning, assessment, and faculty work, with a focus on educational quality and student learning.

Gloria Niles (Chair), Chief Academic Technology Innovation Officer, University of Hawaiʻi System

Antonio Delgado Fornaguera, VP Innovation & Tech Partnerships, Miami Dade College

Arjana Almaneih, Graduate Student, University of Texas at Austin

Jeffrey Tunney, Associate Director, Center for Teaching & Learning Innovation, Vermont State University

Nathan S. Evans, Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, California State University Office of the Chancellor

Rob Magliaro, AI in Education Consultant

Russ McDonald, President, United Tribes Technical College; VP, American Indian Higher Education Consortium

Tisa Mason, President, Fort Hays State University

 

STUDENT SUCCESS & ADVISING

Exploring how AI can enhance student support, engagement, and outcomes while promoting equitable, student-centered experiences.

Tristan Denley (Chair), Deputy Commissioner of Academic Affairs & Innovation, Louisiana Board of Regents

Beth Lesen, VP Student Affairs, CSU Long Beach

Bill Heinrich, Consultant; Chair, Research Committee, Society of Experiential Learning

Corey King, Chancellor, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Tonjanita Johnson, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic & Student Affairs, The University of Alabama System

Willie Banks, VP Student Affairs, UC Irvine

 

DATA INFRASTRUCTURE & PRIVACY

Exploring the data, technology, infrastructure, security, and privacy foundations necessary for responsible and scalable AI adoption.

Anupam Joshi (Chair), Vice Provost & Chief AI Officer, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Brett Pollak, Executive Director, Workplace Technology & Infrastructure Services, UC San Diego

Ed Seidel, Outgoing President, University of Wyoming

Jose-Marie Griffiths, Outgoing President, Dakota State University

Michael Lejman, Principal Consultant, Banner Technical Architect, Ellucian

Santosh Pitla, Professor & Co-Director, NU AI Institute, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

 

GOVERNANCE, ETHICS & RISK

Examining the policies, governance structures, and organizational capacities needed to balance responsible innovation, accountability, ethics, and risk.

Mike Christakis (Chair), VP Student Affairs & Enrollment, University at Albany (SUNY)

Adrian Wisnicki, Co-Director, AI Institute, University of Nebraska System

Enrico Pontelli, Senior Advisor for AI & Dean of Arts and Sciences, New Mexico State University

Evan Silberman, Interim Senior University Dean of Academic Innovation & Chief Academic Technology Officer, CUNY

Julie Jordan, Senior Advisor for AI & Data Governance, Mississippi State University

Satasha Green-Stephen, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic & Student Affairs, Minnesota State System

 

OPERATIONAL CAPACITY & EFFICIENCY

Identifying opportunities to leverage AI to strengthen operational effectiveness, workforce productivity, and organizational capacity.

Kollin Napier (Chair), Director, Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network (MAIN), Mississippi Community College Board

Camille Dempsey, Executive Director & Professor, PennWest Center for AI and Emerging Technologies, PennWest University

Josh Clark, AVP for Technology Strategy & Shared Infrastructure, Colorado State University

Ryan Low, Vice Chancellor for Finance & Strategic AI Integration, University of Maine System

Tyler Small, Founder and CEO of 5-Star Approach

 

Complete rosters and initiative updates: nash.edu/AI