Assistant Vice President of Enterprise AI

Fordham University Portal•Rose Hill, VA

About The Position

Reporting to the Vice President & CIO, the Assistant Vice President of Enterprise AI is the architect of the university’s AI transformation, advancing its academic mission and operational excellence. The role creates an AI ecosystem that enhances teaching, accelerates research, and transforms how the university community learns, works, and discovers. The AVP builds frameworks, selects platforms, and guides implementation, including generative AI tools for academic support and predictive analytics to help students succeed. The AVP defines and communicates a comprehensive university AI vision, strategy, and multi-year roadmap aligned with institutional goals and the university’s three strategic pillars. The role leads enterprise-wide AI planning and establishes governance, ethics, and responsible-use frameworks across academic and administrative domains. As the university’s primary AI thought leader, the AVP collaborates with subject experts on education programs and communications that demonstrate and support practical AI adoption. The AVP brings together AI use cases from across university constituencies and integrates existing initiatives into a cohesive enterprise strategy that addresses business challenges and opportunities. The role measures AI value and return on investment through metrics, KPIs, dashboards, and reporting. It also designs generative AI solutions, develops predictive machine learning models, leads proofs of concept and pilots, and builds production-ready AI/ML pipelines with robust MLOps practices. The AVP champions practical applications and encourages inclusive adoption across the university.

Nice To Haves

Experience in higher education or research-intensive environments.
Knowledge of AI applications in academic contexts, including teaching, learning, and research, and in administrative contexts, including operations and student success.
Understanding of higher education governance and decision-making processes.
Experience managing through influence in matrix organizations.
Track record of thought leadership through publications, presentations, or industry recognition.
Familiarity with AI maturity models and enterprise AI frameworks.
PhD in Computer Science, Data Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field with significant AI/ML focus.

Responsibilities

Define and communicate a comprehensive AI vision, strategy, and multi-year roadmap aligned with institutional goals and the university’s strategic pillars.
Lead enterprise-wide AI strategic planning and establish frameworks for AI governance, ethics, and responsible use across academic and administrative domains.
Serve as the university’s primary AI thought leader; co-design education programs and communication strategies with subject experts to demonstrate and help implement practical AI applications.
Shape and coordinate AI use cases across university constituencies, integrating existing initiatives into a cohesive enterprise strategy.
Establish metrics and KPIs to measure AI value realization and ROI, and create dashboards and reporting mechanisms for stakeholder visibility.
Design and implement generative AI solutions for academic and administrative applications, including LLM deployments, prompt engineering strategies, and custom AI model development.
Develop and deploy machine learning models for predictive analytics in areas such as student success, enrollment management, research outcomes, and operational efficiency.
Lead hands-on proofs of concept and pilots for emerging AI technologies, working with technical teams to validate feasibility and scalability.
Build production-ready AI/ML pipelines and ensure robust MLOps practices for model deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvement.
Champion practical AI applications across the university and build bridges between early adopters and technology-hesitant groups to support inclusive adoption.