The Campus AI Framework: Coordinated planning and governance of AI across higher education

AI doesn't stay in one office. It shows up in teaching and academic integrity, in library guides and licensing, in vendor contracts and features switched on by default, and in advising and admissions.

The Campus AI Framework offers a way to see that work as a whole. It shows what a campus needs to examine, but it does not prescribe the answers, the order, or the pace. It is a map, not a mandate. A campus with a published AI charter and a campus just starting out can both use it. The framework supports campus wide 'AI adoption', but can be applied equally towards a critical, literacy-focused approach that emphasizes thoughtful and selective AI use.

The framework has three parts: eight institutional pillars, which name the main areas of AI work on a campus; four domains, which show how those pillars connect; and the AI Strategic Compass, which helps stakeholder teams set priorities and measure progress. You can address one area at a time, and the framework will help keep each decision consistent with the others. For example, a teaching policy on AI use should align with what the library licenses, what IT permits, and what the budget can support. Companion sites provide templates and guides for each pillar. A campus can take what fits its stage and adapt it to its own mission, language, culture, disciplinary needs, and legal setting. If budgets are small, they can borrow from peer institutions and adapt their approaches to their own context.

Joe Sabado will show how the various areas of the framework connect, and how faculty, staff and administration can work together whether a campus is pursuing broad AI integration, developing critical AI literacy, or taking a more selective, discipline-specific approach to AI use—irrespective of the starting point or wherever a campus is in its journey towards “AI integration/adoption.”

Speaker bio

Joe Sabado is Deputy CIO at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and creator of the Campus AI Framework, a practical guide to connecting AI work across a campus. His 35 years in higher education began in 1991 as a first-generation college student and continued through student affairs, academic affairs, and enterprise IT. He co-leads the EDUCAUSE AI Community Group and serves on the UC AI Council and the UC AI Steering Committee. The framework is independent work, and his views do not represent his employer.

The event will be held on Zoom (see our online event guidelines) and recorded. If you register for the event, you will be emailed a link to the recording.