How One Of The Nation's Largest Universities Uses AI To Revolutionize Education

In this episode, Kathi Enderes sits down with Rob McAuslan, Vice President for Artificial Intelligence at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), one of the world’s largest and most innovative online universities with more than 200,000 students. Before leading SNHU’s AI strategy, Rob taught, worked, and volunteered across Africa, the Mediterranean, and East Asia, working with populations ranging from K-12 students to refugees to graduate scholars. That lived experience shapes everything about how SNHU thinks about AI: not as a tool for automation, but as a means of expanding access, amplifying human potential, and meeting learners exactly where they are. SNHU is no ordinary university. As one of the largest and most innovative higher education institutions in the United States, it has built its reputation on making education accessible to learners who the traditional system has often left behind: working adults, career changers, veterans, and underserved communities. Rob’s role as VP for AI sits squarely at the intersection of that mission and the most consequential technological shift of our time. Rob and Kathi discuss what it really means to deploy AI with humans at the center, and what that demands of institutions, leaders, and learners alike. The conversation moves through the practical and the philosophical: How do you design AI experiences that honor the dignity and complexity of every individual? What does skills-based, AI-enabled learning look like for someone who has never had access to it before? And what can higher education teach the corporate world about building AI that actually serves people rather than simply processing them? If you’re a CHRO, CIO, learning leader, or business executive wondering how to move beyond pilots and hype, this conversation will show you what responsible, scalable AI adoption really looks like—and how to get started in your own organization. Related resources Podcast: The Rise Of The Supermanager – JOSH BERSIN Research: AI Pacesetters: Six Secrets Of The Superworker Company – JOSH BERSIN New Certificate Course in Galileo Learn: AI in L&D Get Galileo: The AI Superagent for You Chapters (00:00:03) - What Works in the Future of Work(00:00:40) - How Southern New Hampshire University Is Taking a Human Approach to AI(00:02:58) - How to Apply AI at Southern New Hampshire University(00:07:49) - Southern New Hampshire University's 4-Stage AI Adoption Model(00:14:16) - One of the issues around AI governance(00:19:13) - Employee Experience and AI in the People Team(00:21:43) - WSJD Live: The AI Policy(00:23:32) - In the Elevator With Provost Rob Ferguson(00:24:06) - What Works In Education? With Rob McAuslan