Dear Center for Academic Innovation Community,
This past week, we hosted the AI & the Future of Learning Summit here in Ann Arbor. It was, by design, not just another higher education convening.
From the outset, we set out to widen the aperture—bringing together voices from across higher education and the broader ecosystem shaping its future. Leaders from universities, technology companies, startups, and the learner community came together to explore a central question: What is the campus of the future, who will it serve, and what is the role of AI?
What emerged among the more than 300 innovators in the room was a shared commitment to engaging across perspectives, with both urgency and humility.
In the days since, I’ve been struck by what attendees have shared. When people reflect on what stayed with them, they don’t reference organizations or titles. They reference people—their ideas, their arguments, their insights. That shift signals something important.
Too often, we default to assumptions that those in industry are motivated by fundamentally different priorities than those in higher education. That universities are resistant to change. That companies are only focused on near-term outcomes. What the summit demonstrated is that these assumptions break down quickly when you bring thoughtful people together around meaningful questions.
I have previously discussed how collaboration and partnerships are essential to the future of learning. But not all partnerships are built for impact. What matters is not simply that we collaborate, but how we do so with shared purpose, mutual respect, and a willingness to engage ideas on their merits.
That spirit carried through the day. In conversations about how AI is reshaping work and what that means for readiness. In discussions about designing learning experiences that build capability rather than replace it. And in a consistent focus on ensuring that innovation expands opportunity rather than widening existing divides.
The summit itself was intentionally designed as a sequence of sessions, moving from understanding the technological frontier to grounding in workforce realities, designing learning experiences, and finally to exploring the infrastructure and partnerships required to scale meaningful change. We also tested these ideas against student perspectives and created space to ask not just what is possible, but what is worth doing.
When I look back on the conversations we’ve hosted this year, I see a consistent throughline. Earlier this year, we convened a discussion with university leaders on the future of higher education and AI. Many of the themes from that conversation—about leadership, responsibility, and the role of universities in shaping this moment—were reinforced last week.
The same is true of our faculty forums and speaker series. These are not isolated events. They are part of a broader effort to convene the right conversations at the right time—intentionally designed to challenge assumptions, surface new ideas, and strengthen our collective capacity to act.
That commitment is also showing up in the work ahead. We recently completed a call for proposals to support faculty-led AI projects focused on teaching and learning. The University of Michigan is funding 13 new initiatives across 11 schools and colleges—from Social Work and Public Health to Engineering, Law, and LSA—exploring how AI can meaningfully improve teaching, learning, and student success at scale.
Through these events and incubated projects, we are building the relationships, shared understanding, and sense of possibility required to move forward together.
The future of learning will not be built by any one institution or sector alone. It will be shaped through choices—made by people willing to engage across boundaries, to hold competing ideas, and to move forward with both ambition and responsibility.
Last week felt like a meaningful step in that direction and a reminder that the work ahead is something we will need to do together.
Go Blue!
James DeVaney
Founding Executive Director of the Center for Academic Innovation
Associate Vice Provost for Academic Innovation