Tuesday, October 27, 2026
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12:00 - 1:30PM Executive Committee Planning Session
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2:00 - 4:00PM UVP 101
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2:00 - 5:00PM UERU Board Meeting
Welcome new members, new Executive Committee
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5:30 - 7:00PM Opening Reception and Welcome
Presentation of UERU Leadership Awards
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Wednesday, October 28, 2026
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All Day Registration and Help Desk
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8:00 - 8:30AM Breakfast and Networking
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8:30 - 8:45AM Welcome & Opening Remarks
UERU President and Board Chair, Steven Girardot, Georgia Institute of Technology
Maria Galli Stampino, Dean of Undergraduate Affairs, University of Miami
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8:45 - 9:45AM Session 1: W[h]ither the Value Proposition?
What is the value of undergraduate education in the age of A.I.? What justifies students and their families taking out second mortgages, so to speak, to pay tuition and other costs of attendance for residential undergraduate education? Is A.I., as some have argued, a boon for education in the humanities, social sciences, and arts? Does ubiquitous A.I. require engaged and inclusive pedagogies alongside verification of learning? How can we lean into A.I. and H.I. to best offer affordable, meaningful, as well as empowering degree programs?
Moderators: Maria Galli Stampino, University of Miami, and Mollye Demosthenidy, Tulane University
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Break
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10:00 - 11:00AM Session 2: Leading Change: Lessons from the Leadership Summit
The August 2-4 UERU Leadership Summit (held at Colorado State University) addressed how to implement Boyer 2030 Report recommendations under current conditions and with an eye toward 2030. This session will recap Summit highlights, and further them via UVP input. Do we remain committed to meeting the equity-excellence imperative? If so, how? What role might UVPs play in advancing leading-edge reform recommendations? Should we stand-up an Expert Directory to facilitate UVP interest in serving as consultants? How is UERU, qua higher ed association, positioned to serve as a catalyst for institutional change?
Moderator: Steven Girardot, Georgia Institute of Technology
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11:00AM - 12:00PM Session 3: The Future of Inclusive Excellence and Belonging
UERU’s Inclusive Excellence and Belonging Community of Practice is a new venue for exploring how best to meet the equity-excellence imperative in a time when certain words (we all know them) are effectively banned in many states. What role can UVPs play in bolstering democratic forms of undergraduate education, and thus democracy itself? What successful strategies and exemplary programs are available for consideration and possible emulation? What strategies are available to us for pursuing holistic reform to produce qualitatively improved results? Or is it advised to pursue only incremental improvements?
Moderator: Patrick Turner, Clark Atlanta University
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Break
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12:00 -1:45PM Lunch & Hot Topics Discussions
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Break
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2:00 - 3:15PM Session 4: Reorganizations, Budgets, Efficiency and Effectiveness?
Many UVPs are leading or otherwise coping with changes to their respective units’ complement of responsibilities. Others are planning for or are enacting significant budget reductions. Is it too sunny to imagine that gains in efficiency, whether sought or forced, might result in gains in effectiveness? Is it possible to imagine efficiencies as means for achieving equity and excellence? Consider use of Curricular Analytics, where increasingly efficient degree programs as less costly as well as amenable to strengthening by means of integration of high-impact practices. Are there other opportunities for win-wins? And in the absence of such wins, how can UVPs help colleagues cope with retrenchment and loss?
Moderator: Bridgette Cram, Florida International University
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3:15 - 4:30PM University of Miami Campus Tours (to be determined)
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| 6:00PM Group dinners facilitated by UERU |
Thursday, October 29, 2026
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7:45 - 8:15AM Breakfast and State of UERU Discussion
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8:15 - 9:15AM Session 5: Affordability & Access: to STEM and other High-Demand Majors, to High-Impact Practices, for Transfer Students….
UERU members value fair access to their institutions and to specific educational assets. How can UVPs, in collaboration with other leaders, help bolster affordability as well as reduce barriers to limited access majors, including STEM majors; to HIPs, including undergraduate research opportunities; and for students who transfer from one institution to another and who are no less deserving of access to the albeit scarce resources that they need for graduation and post-graduate success. By addressing areas of opportunity as well as highlighting pertinent leading-edge practices, this session will afford opportunities to learn from those who have experience in such changes and to reflect on openings on our respective institutions.
Moderator: Nikos Varelas, University of Illinois Chicago
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Break
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9:15 - 10:15 AM Session 6: Topic: Career Readiness: From First-Year Experience to Career Services to Alumni and Corporate Relations
Some UVPs directly support career centers. More often they support first-year experience, academic advising, and general education/core curricula. Thus positioned, how can UVPs help faculty, staff, and students to best integrate career readiness into undergraduate curricula as well as support internship and co-op experiences, career advising and job placement, and engagement with employers and alumni? How does increasingly ubiquitous use of A.I. impact not only learning and the assessment of learning, but also career pathways?
Moderator: Steven Girardot, Georgia Institute of Technology
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Break
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10:30 - 11:30AM Session 7: Student Athletes: NIL, Transfer Portal, and Student Success
While student athletes typically elevate overall student academic achievement and add to student leadership development, student athletes represent varying proportions of research university undergraduate populations, and are internally differentiated in many ways, including by virtue of their participation in revenue versus non-revenue-producing sports. Such complexities notwithstanding, new NIL and Transfer Portal rules, especially germane in revenue sports, have impacted undergraduate student success in striking ways.
Moderator: Lee Baker, Duke University
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11:30 - 11:45AM Concluding Remarks/Looking Ahead
- Steve Dandaneau, Executive Director and Associate Provost, UERU/Colorado State University
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