Educators, students and industry leaders gathered at Elon University May 1–2 for the AI Summit, a two-day program focused on how artificial intelligence is reshaping business education, career preparation and the future of learning.
Elon University’s Martha and Spencer Love School of Business brought together educators, students and industry leaders May 1–2 for the AI Summit.
Hosted in partnership with William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business, the summit invited participants to think not only about how AI is changing higher education, but also what should remain central to the student experience: judgment, curiosity, ethical decision-making, human connection and the ability to keep learning.
The summit opened Friday evening with a program that blended student innovation, music and conversation about AI’s role in business education. Haya Ajjan, dean of the Love School of Business, welcomed attendees before Margarita Kaprieylan, associate dean of the Love School of Business, guided the event as the program’s main host.
The evening featured student AI tool showcases, AI Fellows presentations, a performance by Vital Signs, Elon’s a cappella group, and a fireside chat with higher education leaders.
Student presentations highlighted a range of AI applications, from financial education and career preparation to human resources and access to technology. Projects included a gamified credit simulation that helps students practice financial decision-making and GRIFFIN, an AI-powered tool designed to support human resources classification and pay decisions.
The fireside chat was moderated by Casey Evans, associate dean for undergraduate programs and student services at American University, who also joined the discussion alongside Stephen Walls, assistant dean at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, and Hussein Issa, associate professor of accounting information systems at Rutgers Business School.
Saturday began with a keynote conversation between Anuj Mehrotra, dean of Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business, and Jeff Sanders ’00, chief architect at Microsoft.
“Even a year ago, people were still doubting whether AI is here or not,” Mehrotra said. “At this point, AI is here.”
For Mehrotra, the question is no longer whether students should use AI, but what business schools are preparing them to do in a world where AI can already summarize, create, analyze and simulate.
“What has not changed is curiosity, the value of integrity, judgment and the importance of human relations,” Mehrotra said.
He challenged business schools to think beyond content knowledge and focus on the value students bring when information is abundant.
“We have to figure out what that North Star is going to be,” Mehrotra said. “It’s not going to be simply knowing something or being able to analyze something, because AI can do it for them.”
That theme continued during the “What Industry Wants Now” panel, which brought together leaders from Microsoft, Gartner, Bank of America and OpenAI.
“Universities now have the task not just to prepare students for a first job anymore,” said Nicole Perrelle, head of AI executive advisory service at Gartner. “It is to prepare them to have that life of continuous learning.”
For panelists, that preparation includes more than technical fluency. It also requires judgment, communication and the ability to use AI responsibly in complex workplaces.
“How do we accelerate the adoption of AI but do it in the right way?” said Danielle Nashold ’04, head of AI monitoring and controls strategy at Bank of America. In a highly regulated industry, Nashold discussed the importance of building governance, monitoring and control structures that allow organizations to use AI responsibly.
Amy Robbins ’14, brand insights lead at OpenAI, said AI fluency was expected when she interviewed for her role, but the conversation focused more on the human skills she would bring to the work.
“They were much more interested in how I think, how I approach complex problems, how I communicate,” Robbins said.
For Robbins, that human perspective remains essential, even inside an AI company.
“It’s not layering AI into existing systems for us,” Robbins said. “It’s layering the human into the AI systems.”
Jeff Sanders ’00, chief architect at Microsoft, added that higher education and industry will need to learn together as AI continues to change careers and roles.
“We don’t have all the answers,” Sanders said. “We know that careers are going to change. We know jobs are going to change.”
During the AI Fluency Mapping session, Tawnya Means, founding partner and principal of Inspire Higher Ed, helped prepare participants for the afternoon design sprint by walking them through ways to use AI with more purpose.
Casey Evans, associate dean for undergraduate programs and student services at American University’s Kogod School of Business, offered examples from Kogod’s redesigned curriculum, where students learn to evaluate AI critically and understand where their own judgment adds value.
“Students really need to learn how they are adding value, not just cutting and pasting,” Evans said.
Means then introduced tools participants could use in the design sprint, including the CRAFT framework, which helps users build stronger prompts by defining context, role, action, format and tone.
The summit also featured faculty pitches from Elon University and William & Mary, giving participants examples of how instructors are already experimenting with AI in their classrooms.
In the afternoon, participants applied ideas from the summit during the “Hack the Business Curriculum” design sprint.
The design sprint concluded with three winning teams.
First place went to Calibra, a classroom tool designed to help faculty evaluate and strengthen assignments for AI resilience, critical thinking, curiosity, metacognition and career development.
Second place went to Essentials of Business Reimagined for AI, which proposed redesigning an introductory business course around a semester-long AI-powered simulation.
Third place went to Roast My LinkedIn, a career-readiness tool that uses humor to review LinkedIn profiles before offering practical feedback.
The summit concluded with remarks from Katherine Guthrie, associate dean at William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business.
“This doesn’t end here,” said Guthrie. “This collaboration started after William & Mary hosted an AI summit last year, and it has grown into a shared effort to create space for educators, students and industry leaders to think more intentionally about AI in higher education. We’re looking to next year, where the summit will continue at William & Mary and build on what has been started here.”
The summit was supported by sponsors including Quinncia and Global Academic Ventures. Quinncia provides career-readiness tools that support students in the job search process. Global Academic Ventures supports study abroad programming and international learning opportunities.
Additional sponsors included Breakout Learning, Interpretive Simulations, McGraw-Hill, QuantHub and GMAC.
Katherine Guthrie, associate dean at William & Mary with fellow colleagues
Casey Evans, associate dean for undergraduate programs and student services at American University, moderating the discussion alongside Stephen Walls, assistant dean at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, and Hussein Issa, associate professor of accounting information systems at Rutgers Business School
Margarita Kaprieylan, associate dean at the Love School of Business introducing the keynote
Tawnya Means, founding partner and principal of Inspire Higher Ed, and Casey Evans, associate dean for undergraduate programs and student services at American University’s Kogod School of Business, at the AI Fluency Mapping session
Quinncia presenting at the AI Summit
Global Academic Ventures presenting at the AI Summit
Margarita Kaprieylan, associate dean at the Love School of Business, and Katherine Guthrie, associate dean at William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business
Vital Signs performing at the AI Summit
Casey Evans, associate dean for undergraduate programs and student services at American University, moderating the discussion alongside Stephen Walls, assistant dean at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, and Hussein Issa, associate professor of accounting information systems at Rutgers Business School
Anuj Mehrotra, dean of Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business, and Jeff Sanders ’00, chief architect at Microsoft
Anuj Mehrotra, dean of Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business, and Jeff Sanders ’00, chief architect at Microsoft
Anuj Mehrotra, dean of Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business, and Jeff Sanders ’00, chief architect at Microsoft
