Newsletter
One decision a week, one page each.
Every Monday since September, a short note on one AI question landing on deans' desks, with a one-page brief you can forward to a chair. Ten issues so far.
Issue 10 · Monday, November 9, 2026
When a Discipline Panics
This fall it was the mathematicians, after AI started producing proofs that pass review. Next year it will be someone else on your campus. Do not reassure them and do not agree with them. Ask one question, grade the process instead of the product, and fund the two curious people in the department before the loud ones set the agenda.
Issue 9 · Monday, November 2, 2026
Faculty Readiness Without a Mandate
You ran the workshop. Attendance was fine. Nothing changed. The faculty who came were already using the tools, and a mandate will not reach the rest. What works is older than AI: a lead with time in the workload, a department cohort with one real assignment each, and a single number to report in May.
Issue 8 · Monday, October 26, 2026
The Fully Automated Loop
The MLA described it in one sentence: the LMS writes the assignment, an agent submits it for the student, a dashboard grades it for the instructor. Every piece is already for sale, and each one looks harmless alone. Deans are the only people who see the whole loop. Name the three human moments now, before a feature removes one.
Issue 7 · Monday, October 19, 2026
Copyright, AI, and Your Course Materials
An instructional design team asked a national list this month for anyone with AI and copyright expertise. The best replies began with 'not a lawyer, but.' That is where the field is. A dean cannot settle the law, but can give faculty three rules and one person to call. Plus a free classroom exercise worth borrowing.
Issue 6 · Monday, October 12, 2026
What Employers Are Actually Asking For
Most job postings that ask for AI skills are not in IT. They are in marketing, operations, HR, finance, and health administration, which means the AI course sitting in computer science will miss most of your graduates. This week: the labor numbers, the no-prerequisite course we proposed at CSUDH, and the ten employer interviews to run before you design yours.
Issue 5 · Monday, October 5, 2026
If Judgment Is the Skill, Can You Assess It?
Employers say judgment is the skill. Admissions offices are adding situational judgment tests. A Forbes writer asked the field this month whether universities can measure it at all. We can, and most of us already do in the clinic, the studio, and the moot court. The question is how to do it in the lecture course where most credits are earned.
Issue 4 · Monday, September 28, 2026
How Your Campus Buys AI
The tool request went in during September. The approval came in March. The faculty member used the free version with student data all year. Slow procurement does not reduce risk; it hides it. Two lanes, one clock, five contract terms, and a published list. I sent a version of this to a congressional office this month; you can do it without Congress.
Issue 3 · Monday, September 21, 2026
When a Student Calls Your Exam Software Spyware
A student told her instructor this month that the proctoring extension was spyware. She was not wrong about the access, and a federal court has already sided with a student on a bedroom webcam scan. Before this reaches your office, every proctored online exam needs one thing: a path without the software.
Issue 2 · Monday, September 14, 2026
Can Faculty Grade with AI?
Some of your faculty are already pasting student essays into AI for feedback. Most have not told anyone. Texas has the cleanest answer I have seen, a Supreme Court case from 2002 settles the FERPA question, and the Turnitin comparison is more awkward than most of us admit. Two conditions and you are covered.
Issue 1 · Monday, September 7, 2026
The One-Sentence AI Policy
Welcome to the first issue. Here is a test for your Monday: ask three chairs to say the campus AI policy out loud. If none can, the policy is not doing its job, however good the memo. This week's brief is about replacing the memo with one sentence faculty will repeat, and what has to sit underneath it.