01
A purpose tied to mission
Why AI, in your institution's own words — the outcomes it serves for students, research, and operations. Not a technology statement; a mission one.
Apply · The planning process
AI strategic planning
Most campuses don't lack AI ideas — they lack a plan that leadership can endorse, a strategist can see a path through, and a practitioner can act on Monday. This is the method for producing one: a repeatable planning cycle that turns the framework's eight pillars and tools into a single arc, ending in a written strategy with a budget, an owner, and a date. It's a guide to running the process, not a template to fill in.
Where this sits
Planninghow you produce the planStrategywhat to pursueAdoptionhow to stand up the pillarsRun itthe ongoing cadence
The starting condition
On most campuses, AI arrives long before any plan does. Left alone, the pattern is remarkably consistent:
Everyone owns it, so no one doesAI work is underway in dozens of places at once — courses, research, IT pilots, student services — but no one is accountable for the whole picture.
Effort duplicates quietlyUnits solve the same problems in parallel, unaware of each other, missing the chance to build on shared work.
Shadow and vendor use spreadsTools switch on by default and staff adopt AI informally — faster than any policy gets written.
The public face drifts out of syncWhat the institution says about AI stops matching what it is actually doing, and the gap widens by the month.
The planning process exists to convert that scattered activity into one owned direction. Naming the condition is the first move; the rest of this page is how you resolve it.
What you're producing
Why this mattersA good AI plan is six things on one page, not a hundred. Define the target first, and every phase below has something concrete to build toward.
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Commitments you'll be held to
The principles that bound every AI decision: equity, privacy, transparency, human judgment. What a board, a faculty senate, and the public can hold you to.
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An honest baseline
Where you actually stand today across the eight pillars, and what AI is already doing on campus — including the shadow and vendor use no one signed off on.
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A prioritized portfolio
The few initiatives you'll pursue now, sequenced — and, just as important, what you're deliberately deferring and why.
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Governance & decision rights
Who decides what, who is accountable, and how a new AI use gets reviewed. The plan names the owners, not just the ambitions.
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Resources & measures
What it costs, who owns each piece, and the leading indicators that tell you it's working — early, before long-term outcomes land.
The planning arc
Six phases, each producing one concrete output and handing off to the framework tool that does the work. Adapt the order to your context — a resourced campus runs several in parallel; a nascent one may spend most of its first cycle in Phases 1–3.
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Phase 1
Convene & set the mandate
A plan without a sponsor and a clear team is a document nobody owns. Start by naming who is accountable and what is in scope — before a single initiative is discussed.
In the roomA cabinet-level sponsor and a small, cross-functional planning team
What you do
- Secure a cabinet-level sponsor and a one-line mandate The case for leadership
- Charter a small planning team with real decision rights Governance Guide
- Agree the scope: a unit, a campus, or a whole system For presidents & systems
This producesA chartered planning team, a named sponsor, and an agreed scope.
Decide here that AI runs through the whole plan — teaching, research, operations, public engagement — not a standalone “technology” chapter. A strategy that bolts AI on as one section is incomplete on arrival.
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Phase 2
Establish an honest baseline
You cannot plan from where you wish you were. Get a truthful read of your maturity and of the AI already running on campus, so the plan addresses the institution you have, not the one you imagine.
In the roomThe planning team with IT, data, and unit representatives
What you do
- Run the Maturity Assessment for a baseline across the eight pillars Maturity Assessment
- Inventory AI already in use, including shadow and vendor tools AI Registry model
- Map how AI enters your campus so nothing stays invisible How AI enters campus
This producesA baseline maturity read and an inventory of current AI use.
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Phase 3
Set direction
Before choosing initiatives, decide what you stand for. Direction is what keeps a hundred small, scattered AI decisions coherent — and what a strategist needs to see a path through.
In the roomThe sponsor and planning team, with a faculty and shared-governance voice
What you do
- Write a purpose for AI tied to your mission, in plain terms For presidents & systems
- Adopt the guiding commitments you'll be held to From Principles to Proof
- Confirm your posture: lead, fast-follow, or watch-and-wait Sample AI strategies
This producesA short purpose statement and a set of principles on the record.
Name your posture in a few plain verbs — explore, accelerate, safeguard — rather than nouns. A shared, action-oriented vocabulary makes every later decision easier to coordinate and to communicate.
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Phase 4
Prioritize across the pillars
The eight pillars show the full surface area of the work. Planning is deciding which few matter most now, and scoring candidate initiatives so the choices are defensible rather than loudest-voice-wins.
In the roomThe planning team with unit sponsors who own the initiatives
What you do
- Decide which pillars need work now, and which can wait The eight pillars
- Score candidate initiatives through the Strategic Compass Strategic Compass
- Evaluate specific tools against consistent criteria Tool Evaluation Matrix
This producesA ranked shortlist of initiatives, with a clear rationale for what you defer.
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Phase 5
Draft & pressure-test
Turn priorities into a written plan built on the six components above — then stress it before it goes up for approval, against real risks, recognized standards, and the people who will live with it.
In the roomThe planning team with legal, IT security, and stakeholder representatives
What you do
- Draft the plan around the six components, using shared templates Templates & resources
- Check coverage against recognized standards Standards alignment
- Pressure-test with the people who govern and use AI Who governs AI
This producesA drafted plan that has survived a first round of scrutiny.
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Phase 6
Resource, approve & sequence
A plan becomes real when it has a budget, an owner, and a place on the calendar. Endorse it, resource it, then sequence the first moves so momentum starts the week it's approved.
In the roomThe sponsor with cabinet or board, and finance
What you do
- Attach budget and named owners to each initiative Finance & budget
- Take the plan to cabinet or board for endorsement For cabinet & board
- Sequence the first moves into a 90-day arc The first 90 days
This producesAn approved, resourced plan with the first 90 days already scheduled.
Every institution starts somewhere different
There is no single on-ramp. The same arc flexes to your institution — its type, its maturity stage, and the proportionality of a response that actually fits your risk and capacity. Find the nearest example and read across all three; the point isn't to match it exactly, it's to right-size your own plan.
Institution typeCommunity / access-focused college
Maturity stageInitial · Ad hoc
ProportionalityFeatherweight — one coordinator, borrowed templates, no new office
You're likely here if
- AI is already in classrooms and back offices, but no one owns the whole picture.
- Nothing is written down; what happens depends on individual initiative.
Weight the front of the arc. The win isn't a comprehensive plan — it's a named owner, one piece of published guidance, and a stated direction. Proportionality means resisting an apparatus you can't staff.
Where the arc leansPhases 1–3 · Convene → Baseline → Set direction
Your first moveTake the quick read, then name one AI “front door”Find your starting point Watch for: Building governance heavier than you can sustain. A single-page guidance beats an unstaffed committee.
From plan to practice
Approval is the start, not the finish. The plan becomes an operating rhythm — monthly intake, quarterly portfolio reviews, an annual reset — and you return to this cycle each year with a fresh baseline as the program matures. Plan once; run it continuously.
Where AI plans go wrong
Each of these has stalled a good plan on a real campus. The framework doesn't remove them — it names them so you can plan around them deliberately.
Planning to perfection
“We'll publish once it's comprehensive.”
Publish a v1. A plan people can act on this month beats a complete one no one has seen.
A plan with no owner
“Everyone agreed it was important.”
Put a name next to every initiative. Shared enthusiasm without an accountable owner is how plans quietly stall.
Borrowing another campus's priorities
“This worked at a peer institution.”
Borrow their structure, not their priorities. Your baseline, mission, and risk exposure are different — plan from your own.
Procurement before direction
“Let's buy the platform, then write the plan around it.”
Direction decides the tools, not the reverse. Set purpose and priorities first, then let them constrain what you buy.
Skipping the honest baseline
“We roughly know where we stand.”
Run the assessment anyway. Without a truthful read you plan for the campus you picture, not the one you have.
A public face before a plan
“Let's announce the AI vision, then work out the details.”
Messaging can't precede the strategy it describes. Set direction and ownership first — a public profile with no real plan behind it is out of date the moment it's posted.
A plan is a decision, not a document
Run the arc once and you have a strategy your cabinet endorsed, your strategists can sequence, and your practitioners can start on. Then it becomes a rhythm.