Association of American Colleges and Universities

And I love the framing of that for students, because when I went to school at a great liberal arts college and Tracy, you know, you the same.

We took a general education that was based on the kind of traditional AAC&U value rubrics of liberal arts.

And so you took a natural science, a social science, an arts, humanities, and you kind of check the boxes.

And you take, I don't know, whatever, 30 credits or so that... really don't have connection to one another and it's up to the student to make meaning of all this, right? Like you take a class in great books and then maybe when you're 35 years old, you realize like,

Today, we're talking about restoring the public trust in higher education.

AGB's Jacque Gardina speaks with Jeremy Young of the American Association of Colleges and Universities about AAC&U's new report, The Trust Agenda, and what its recommendations mean specifically for governing boards.

Their conversation explores how trustees can strengthen internal and community relationships, support innovation and student success, serve as credible ambassadors for higher education, and help protect institutional mission and autonomy in an increasingly challenging environment.

Let's get started.

Jacque?

Thanks for joining me today, Jeremy.

And first, I want to congratulate and thank you and your team at AAC&U for creating The Trust Agenda framework.

It is a clear roadmap for higher education leaders to follow.

go ahead um i mean penn state beats marshall by 45. iowa beats northern illinois by 40.

Texas Tech beat AACU by 23.

Texas A&M beat Missouri State by 50.

Why we don't have the jump off games? Exactly what y'all talking about.

[instrumental music] I have two guests today.

First is Dr. Eddie Watson, vice president for digital innovation at the American Association of Colleges and Universities, and founding director of the association's Institute on AI, Pedagogy, and the Curriculum.

His work aims to help colleges move beyond fear or hype toward a thoughtful, evidence-informed integration of AI into teaching and learning.

He is focused on how institutions can respond to AI's challenges for academic integrity, student learning, curriculum design, and workforce preparation.

But you're someone who likes to stay busy and likes to jump into the fray in some interesting spaces.

Can you catch folks up on who you are and what you're doing now at AAC&U?

Absolutely.

So six years ago, I was a history professor in southwestern Utah, Utah Tech University, with no idea that I was going to end up in all of these interesting spaces here in Washington, D.C.

And the team there is continuing that work and doing a fantastic job.

And now for the last year, 15 months, I've been at the American Association of Colleges and Universities.

And when I got to AAC&U, the organization was already talking with presidents about how to handle the challenges of the new administration.

And the presidents they were talking to were very interested in putting out a statement.

That's a little bit of what the issue is, right? That i- in so many ways, the sectors of academia have remained separate in their peer group camps in a way that hasn't really brought us all together, and there absolutely are some groups that are amazing.

You know, um, uh, the American Council on Education, you know, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, you know, who, uh, the AAC&U, like, who really bring us together and have spoken on behalf.

But it's so divided that we don't always learn from each other in ways that, like, I mean, I'll give you an example.

Community colleges, right, are seen as very separate from major research universities, or regional publics are seen as very separate from elite and premier, highly selective liberal arts colleges.