In this forward-thinking episode, Sarah Holtan, PhD sits down with Melik Peter Khoury, DBA, to explore how higher education leaders can harness the transformative power of AI—not just as a technological tool, but as a driver for architectural, workflow, and cultural change in universities.

Rather than dwelling on AI as a source of academic anxiety or a threat to jobs, Dr. Khoury shares actionable strategies for integrating AI into executive functions, staff productivity, and student learning.

Listeners are invited to rethink old paradigms and learn how embracing AI can help institutions stay relevant, flatten organizational structures, empower staff, and offer students the fluency they’ll need in an AI-powered workforce.

Episode Highlight

05:02 - If you don't know how to use AI, if you don't embrace it, if you don't understand how it works, then your organization is going to be out of date before you even know it.

17:15 - AI will make certain tasks redundant. But right now, in my opinion, the lack of imagination from organizational design is what would make employees obsolete.

27:56 - If you are graduating a student and they are not AI fluent, you're already making them obsolete in the workforce.

37:44 - If you are in a leadership position in higher education and you do not experiment with AI, and then show your direct reports and their direct reports and your peers that you are and normalize it, you will get stuck in time, and the world will pass you by.

Sarah Holtan, PhD

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Melik Peter Khoury, DBA

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