Join Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Denise Maybank for an inspiring opening plenary that sets the stage for a day of exchanging ideas, sparking new collaborations, and imagining how we can build thriving communities where students, campuses, and all of us can flourish in an AI-influenced future. The session will feature greetings from President Kenneth Adams and Executive Vice Chancellor Alicia Alvero.

Keynote - Renew, Reconnect, and Reimagine: Leading Student Affairs Through the Age of AI

The keynote begins with the realities facing today’s student affairs workforce, including increasingly complex student needs, staffing challenges, budget pressures, and concerns about retention and burnout. AI is introduced through the lens of capacity recovery - using technology responsibly to reduce administrative burden and return more time, attention, and energy to students, teams, and mission-centered work.

Dr. Michael Butcher brings an uncommon combination of direct student affairs leadership, technology expertise, and national experience helping higher education professionals understand and apply artificial intelligence. In addition to founding The Center for Artificial Intelligence, he has more than 20 years of higher education experience. Separately, he serves as an Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, with responsibility for many functions directly affected by emerging AI applications, including student support, housing, conduct, Title IX, counseling, accessibility services, health services, and student engagement. He has delivered AI professional development within the CUNY system, including work with Lehman College. His recent national work includes a six-hour AI preconference for student affairs professionals at the 2026 NASPA Annual Conference, presentations for NASPA and EDUCAUSE, and AI training for Texas A&M University.