AI Ready

AI Ready Year Two

AI Ready Year Two is in development and more details will be announced soon. Be the first to know when AI Ready Year Two launches!

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AI Ready is a 12-month Network built to foster learning, share resources, and increase effective adoption related to artificial intelligence (AI), created especially for our member institutions. The Network will focus on both pedagogical and business uses for AI, bringing the current conversation about AI to key areas of campus. 

Goals
  • Goal 1: Knowledge Sharing and Learning
    Facilitate the exchange of insights, best practices, and resources among members to enhance understanding of AI technologies and applications
  • Goal 2: Capacity Building and Usage Expansion
    Develop training programs, workshops, and sample materials to equip faculty and staff with foundational AI knowledge and skills
  • Goal 3: Collaborative Projects and Research
    Support collaborative research initiatives, project-based learning, and inter-institutional efforts to explore AI within diverse administrative and academic domains

Program 1:
All Campus Essentials

All Campus Essentials, an opportunity to learn about and engage with nine of the most pressing topics during 12 months, structured so all areas of your campus benefit 

Each month, CIC features one topic, invites related campus members to join, and conducts four virtual sessions to prepare participants for the impact of AI in that space. This program equips faculty, staff, and administrators with a foundational understanding of AI.

The program runs from September 2024 through July 2025, excluding December and May.

Topics

Virtual sessions will address applications and use cases related to AI in…  

Spring 2025

January 9–30: Student Retention

Focus: Leveraging AI for student engagement, academic progress, and social connection. Topics include early alert systems and academic coaching/advising.

Recommended attendees: Staff working in retention, academic advising, and student tutoring.

February 6–27: Academic Affairs

Focus: Enhancing efficiency in academic administration, including LMS systems, course scheduling, and catalog management.

Recommended attendees: Academic administrators, registrar staff, and learning management system teams.

March 6–27: AI in the Curriculum

Focus: Integrating AI into curriculum development and student skill acquisition, exploring topics such as AI majors/minors, certificates, and liberal arts applications. This series will also touch on AI policy and data management.

Recommended attendees: Academic administrators, faculty (especially those involved in governance), and campus AI enthusiasts.

April 3–24: Student Affairs

Focus: Personalizing student services with AI, including career services, wellness initiatives, and residence life.

Recommended attendees: Staff in student affairs, counseling services, health centers, accommodations, career services, and related support offices.

Approach

Each topic includes four sessions (one per week) of conversation and learning. Each month’s conversations include:  

  1. AI Literacy  
    This includes information about implications for AI and foundational preparation related to the topic. 
  2. AI Emerging Use Cases and Needs 
    This includes where AI is being used currently or in the future related to the topic. 
  3. Horizon Sessions 
    These sessions identify emerging partner solutions and provide guidance on how to organize, identify, and choose what supports your institution will need. 
  4. Next Steps Conversations 
    These discussions will center on how campuses are advancing AI work

Program 2:
Build Your Own

Build Your Own, a small, space-limited, pilot program for institutions ready to implement generative AI on campus 

Program 2 provides a more experiential opportunity. This space-limited, pilot program is designed for institutions that are ready to use generative AI on campus. With guidance from the program’s senior advisor, the Build Your Own program takes a small campus-based team through necessary steps to better understand and use existing campus data and responsibly deploy generative AI in-house using their own data.  

AI Ready Program Leadership

Rachael Barlow headshot

Rachael Barlow

Director, Center for Faculty Career Development, Wesleyan University

Adam Pryor headshot

Adam Pryor

Senior Advisor, A.I. Strategy and Engagement, Council of Independent Colleges

Matt Trainum headshot

Matt Trainum

Vice President for Networks and Strategic Partnerships, Council of Independent Colleges

Jules White headshot

Jules White

Professor of Computer Science; Senior Advisor to the Chancellor for Generative AI in Education and Enterprise Solutions; Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University (TN)

Contact Information

For questions about CIC’s AI Network offerings, contact Matt Trainum, vice president for strategic networks and partnerships, at mtrainum@cic.edu or Sabrina Sturgeon, senior project coordinator, networks, at ssturgeon@cic.edu.

Sponsors

AI Network Exclusive Sponsor

Foundation Level Sponsor

Consulting Level Sponsor

Topical Sponsors

Council of Independent Colleges