Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming part of everyday life on college campuses, reshaping everything from classroom assignments and research to career preparation and university operations.
For higher education, the challenge is no longer simply whether to use AI, but how to use it well. Universities must determine what students need to know about AI, how faculty can incorporate it responsibly, what policies should guide its use, and how institutions can adapt as the technology continues to evolve.
In this episode of State of Inquiry, host Kevin Jones talks with Anne Leftwich and Rahul Shrivastav, two Indiana University leaders working on those questions. They discuss what it means to build an AI-ready university, how higher education can prepare students for an AI-shaped workforce, and how institutions can embrace new possibilities while preserving the human judgment, creativity, and critical thinking at the heart of education.
Anne Leftwich is the Chief Academic and AI Innovation Officer and Associate Vice President for Learning Technologies across Indiana University, as well as the Barbara B. Jacobs Chair in Education and Technology.
Rahul Shrivastav is interim vice president for Student Success, Enrollment and Institutional Effectiveness at Indiana University. He previously served as provost of IU Bloomington. Shrivastav is a co-principal investigator for IU’s university-wide AI in Higher Education planning initiative and serves on its steering committee. A scholar and inventor in speech and hearing sciences, he is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Shrivastav earned his Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from Indiana University Bloomington.
Kevin Jones is an AI strategist, educator, and thought leader with more than 30 years of experience integrating innovative technologies into the workplace and brings deep experience in both academia and public media to his role as host of AI & You: Navigating the Next Frontier, the third season of AI & You episodes featured on Indiana Public Media’s State of Inquiry.