This week on The VineDown, I sat down with David Weil, the longtime CIO and Senior VP of Strategic Services & Initiatives at Ithaca College. He’s a man who has survived every major tech wave higher ed has ever thrown at him. Mainframes. Early PCs. The dawn of the internet. Mobile. SaaS. Y2K panic. He’s seen it all.

But when I asked him how AI compares?

He didn’t hesitate: “Nothing has hit higher ed this fast or this hard.”

This episode is your hype-free, deeply human roadmap to understanding AI’s real impact on the operating system of the institution (and how to prepare students, staff, and leadership for what’s coming next).

We covered SO much ground on the future of AI in higher ed and hope you learn a ton from this episode.

📍 TIMESTAMPS

00:00 — Cold open: explicit E… earned

01:20 — David’s title, portfolio, and why HR + IT + analytics belong together

03:00 — “Why does AI feel different from every tech wave before it?”

05:30 — The speed of AI adoption and why higher ed hasn’t had time to breathe

06:45 — Preparing students for “Earth” in an AI-impacted world

08:00 — HI (Human Intelligence) and the role of liberal arts

11:40 — AI as the new operating system of the institution

12:20 — Generative AI vs. applied AI (and why nuance matters)

13:30 — The perfect AI use case: Ithaca’s iCare story

16:20 — Data as the new currency: dashboards, governance, culture

18:00 — How IT + IR merged into a unified analytics engine

21:00 — Breaking organizational silos for AI readiness

24:00 — The problem with point-solution AI and why it won’t scale

27:30 — Longitudinal AI: why it’s the real future

30:00 — Change management: transparency, fear, skills, and pilots

34:00 — What colleges should brace for in the next 3–5 years

36:20 — David’s crystal-ball prediction: frictionless student experience

37:00 — Wrap-up and final thoughts

Listen and watch this episode of The VineDown wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to hit that subscribe button!