Press & Mentions

This former Salesforce exec is using AI and data to transform higher education

boldstart's Fast Forward on the higher education work: a former Salesforce VP of Innovation applying AI and the institution's own data to the students the system lost.

“AI is the emerging reason to promote a change in the way we think about data, not a change in our systems.”

Phil Komarny: Maryville University Eradicates Data Chaos

A vendor's write-up of the Maryville data work: one master record per student, assembled from every system on campus that was holding a piece of them. It is a case study, so read it as one. The plan it describes is the plan we ran.

Maryville Announces $21 Million Investment in AI and New Technologies Amidst Record Growth

Maryville's announcement of a multi-year AI and technology investment, with my quote in it. Institutional press releases are what they are. This one has a number attached and a date.

4 Things Experts Want You to Know About Blockchain in Higher Ed

Four takeaways on blockchain in higher ed, part of them drawn from the EdSurge event below. My line was that the security is the boring part, and the boring part is what makes room to build.

Higher Education Joins the Blockchain Party

Tina Nazerian's report from an EdSurge event on blockchain and credentialing. I opened it with the case for letting students own their proof of learning instead of leaving it with the registrar.

Experts See New Ways to Track Learning Experiences with Blockchain

Erin Brereton on ChainScript, the blockchain credential record we built at the UT System, and what a student could do with it.

“The mobile app we built is basically a wallet for all accomplishments.”

U of Texas System, Salesforce team up to build out learning platform

The announcement of TEx 2.0, the UT System's learning platform built with Salesforce, and why I thought the change had to come from inside the institution rather than from the venture money circling it.

“These transformations have to happen from the inside.”

University of Texas System to Update Learning Platform with Personalized Support, Credentialing Tools

Sri Ravipati on TEx 2.0, the personalized support, and the credentialing layer. My name is not in this one either; the platform I ran is.

UT System partners with tech industry leader to develop next-generation learning platform

The UT System's own release on the Salesforce partnership. It names the platform, the timeline, and the Dreamforce interview that followed. Primary source for the Chief Digital Officer title.

Interview with Innovative Higher Ed CIO and Thought Leader Phil Komarny (Part 2 of 2)

The second half of Kelly Walsh's interview: what the iPad program did to the IT department, and what I thought came next.

Ed Tech Thought Leader Interview: Innovative CIO Phil Komarny (Part 1 of 2)

Kelly Walsh's two-part interview from the Seton Hill years, starting with how the iPad program began and what it was actually for.

CIO Advice: Social Media Improves The User Experience

Vala Afshar on the social CIO, back when a CIO on Twitter was unusual enough to be a story. Seton Hill's IT department went from last to first in the student ratings in about eighteen months, and this is where that got written down.

Mobile Access Management Tools Enable More Than Secure Wireless Access

Jacquelyn Bengfort on the network underneath the iPad program: a campus with two or three wireless classrooms became a campus where every device landed on the right VLAN. Nobody writes about the plumbing. She did.

IT Does Not Love iPads

Michelle Fredette on what a consumer device does to an enterprise IT shop. We unboxed every iPad, updated it, tagged it, and boxed it again, because that is what the device asked of us.

“There was nothing else we could do, because this device that they built is completely consumer.”

Apple iPad considered 'in' on 2 in 3 campuses

Dennis Carter, two years into the program: 90 percent of Seton Hill faculty had the iPad in their classes, and the campus had just been named an Apple Distinguished Program.

“Find me any [technology] in higher ed that was adopted at that rate.”

iPads in Education – Implementation Stories and Lessons Learned (continued)

Kelly Walsh's walkthrough of the EDUCAUSE Review piece the three of us wrote about the first year with iPads: the objectives, the lessons, what we would do again.

An iPad for Every Seton Hill University Student

Ramon Nuez talked to JoAnne Boyle, Mary Ann Gawelek, and me two months after the announcement, about why a small liberal arts college decided to hand every student a device that had not shipped yet.

One iPad per child: Seton Hill to give all students iPads

The iPad had been announced for two months and had not shipped. Seton Hill said every full-time student would get one that fall. TechCrunch covered it the day it was announced; the program ran, and it is the reason the campus-wide iPad idea exists in higher education.

“I’d say it’s one of the biggest changes in pedagogy since the move from the one-room schoolhouse.”

Seton Hill University hands out iPads to students

Same day as TechCrunch, same news, a different crowd. My name is not in it. The decision is.

Revolutionizing Higher Ed: A Conversation with Phil Komarny

Dustin Ramsdell's Connected Campus podcast, on data, AI, and what the student experience looks like when the institution actually knows the student.

The Revolution in Higher Education Will Be Led Through Data

Recorded when I had just landed at Maryville: timing, COVID as a catalyst, and why the revolution runs through data or does not run at all.

Episode 3 - Phil Komarny

Mark Lombardi, Maryville's president, and me, fifty minutes on innovation inside a university that had decided to do it.

Maryville University’s speaker series: How the pandemic is changing college education

Part three of Maryville’s Higher Ed Reimagined video series, with Shani Lenore-Jenkins, on the post-pandemic university. It is sponsored content, and it says so here because it says so there.

VP of Innovation @ Salesforce, Phil Komarny, Discusses the Future of Higher Ed

The Season Two finale, on the future of colleges and universities, or, as I put it on the show, of learning.

Higher Education Leadership Podcast - Episode 3 with Phil Komarny

Terri Givens on the future of work, recorded while I was at Salesforce.

Chainscript: Reinventing Education with Phil Komarny and Wearable Technology with Dr. Ben Waber

Diane Hamilton on Chainscript and reinventing education, paired with Ben Waber on wearables. Two halves of the same question: what does the institution owe the person whose data it holds?

Phil Komarny, CIO and Steve Mann, CMO

CXOTalk's fourth episode, with Steve Mann of LexisNexis: a CIO and a CMO on digital transformation, in 2013, when the phrase still meant something. I was back on October 18 that year with Stephen diFilipo and Kelly Walsh.

The Future Is the New Now

A keynote to the people who accredit universities, on what happens when the proof they audit every ten years becomes a data asset that answers every day. The notes behind the talk are here on the site.

Enabling Impact Speakers

Westmont College’s Enabling Impact speaker list, from the Salesforce years. The page carries no date, so neither does this card.

The Ampersand: Generalists in the AI Era

A guest essay for Robots & Pencils on why the generalist wins in the AI era. Two trades, one person, the character in the middle.

A More Equitable Hiring System Through Interoperable Learning and Employment Records

On interoperable learning and employment records and the fairer hiring system they make possible, written for Diplomatic Courier while I was at Salesforce.

The Campus Cultural Shift with the Consumerization of IT

An early essay on Medium about what happens to campus culture when the devices people bring are better than the ones the institution issues.

Mobile Perspectives: On iPads — Why Mobile?

The piece Mary Ann Gawelek, Mary Spataro, and I wrote after the first year of iPads at Seton Hill. Faculty and students as co-learners, with no model to copy, and a leadership team that put the money where the idea was.