2026 AI Summit – Speakers
Featured Speakers
Keynote Speaker: Kyle Bowen
Deputy CIO at Arizona State University
Kyle Bowen is Deputy CIO at Arizona State University, where he leads strategic university efforts for effective uses of technology to advance institutional growth. Kyle guides a portfolio of disciplines such as AI acceleration, learning experience and disruptive innovation. In addition to supporting internal operations for Enterprise Technology including creative and communications, human resources, community partnerships, and alignment with budget and finance. Formerly the director of Teaching and Learning with Technology at Penn state, and director of informatics at Purdue University, he is experienced in shaping institutional strategies that help students meet their learning goals through innovative technologies. Kyle is an experienced entrepreneur and frequent speaker on the role of technology to change education. He has co-authored and edited more than 20 books in the areas of design, online development and usability, and his work has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Featured Plenary: Beth Rugg
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Client Engagement and the Chief Workplace AI Officer
Beth Rugg leads the university AI Steering Committee and is responsible for user services including the Service Desk, desktop support, endpoint management, training, documentation and communication. In her role as Chief Workplace AI Officer, she will spearhead a university-wide initiative to build AI literacy and fluency across our administrative community.
She has more than 25 years of IT leadership and project management experience and is a graduate of Cornell University. She champions service and support and, in addition to her current duties, has extensive experience with lab management, instructional support and design, digital media production, technology acquisition and vendor management.
Beth gives back to the community in many ways. She partners with Educause and has served on program committees, working committees and been a faculty member for the Educause Executive Leaders Academy and the Senior Directors program. She was an Executive Board member of the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group for University and College Computing Services (ACM SIGUCCS) and led their professional development program for many years. She was the 2023 Penny Crane Award recipient for distinguished service.
Beth strives to design simple solutions to meet complex needs. She is passionate about stakeholder engagement, relationship building and usability.
Opening Remarks: Asher Haines
Associate Provost, School of Professional Studies
Asher Haines is UNC Charlotte’s associate provost of the School of Professional Studies. In this role, he directs the School and leads the University’s strategies related to supporting learners of all ages, partnering with companies and organizations to develop their employees through education and training, and collaborating with the University’s academic colleges to develop and deliver programs for adult learners while also supporting overall excellence in teaching and learning for the University.
Industry Panel
Marcus Britt
Senior Manager, HR Tech and AI Advocate, McKinsey Certified Digital Strategist
Under Armour
Bhakti Liyanage
Senior Vice President, Enterprise Architect
(Data & AI)
First Citizens Bank
Diego Torres
Managing Director, Cloud & AI Platform, Financial Services
Microsoft
Richard Bowman
AI Operations Specialist
Nascar
PANEL MODERATOR
Patrick Madsen
Associate Dean of Advising,
Experiential Learning and Executive Director of the Career Center
Office of Undergraduate Education
Student Panelists & volunteers
Student Panelists
Lily Ahdieh
Graduate Student
CHESS
Eric Fackelman
Undergraduate Student,
President of Charlotte AI Research Student Organization
CCI
Gabe Perry
Undergraduate Student
CHESS/COED
Scarleth Bonilla-Hernandez
Undergraduate Student
COA&A
PANEL MODERATOR
Premkumar Pugalenthi
Clinical Assistant Professor
COED
Student Volunteers
Sam Ennis
Undergraduate Student
CHESS
Fabrizio Farfán
Undergraduate Student
COA&A
Nina Giani
Undergraduate Student
BCOB
Joe Remy
Undergraduate Student
BCOB
AI Storytellers
Debbie Baker
Senior Lecturer
CHESS
Steve Carter
Associate Director, Strategy Implementation & Reporting
SPS
Gongfan Chen
Assistant Professor
COE
Saniya Pritchett
Undergraduate Student
COE
Marie Vrablic
Data Systems Analyst,
Academic Affairs Support
Academic Affairs
STORIES MODERATOR
Justin Cary
Senior Lecturer,
Program Director
CHESS
Workshop Facilitators
Aileen Benedict
Lecturer
CCI
Katherine Bennett
Manager, Instructional Design & Training, Client Engagement
OneIT
Jordan Blekking
Assistant Professor
SDS
Kara Hite
OneIT Trainer in Client Engagement
OneIT
Megan Keaton
Associate Teaching Professor, Associate Director of Writing Resources Center
CHESS
Daniel Maxwell
University Supervisor and Lecturer
COED
Premkumar Pugalenthi
Clinical Assistant Professor
COED
Beth Rugg
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Client Engagement,
Chief Workplace AI Officer
OneIT
Megan Smith
Assistant Teaching Professor
CHESS
Sandra Watts
Teaching Professor
CHESS
Todd Taylor
Pedagogical Evangelist and former Professor of English, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Adobe
Jim Babbage
Senior Solutions Consultant
Adobe
AI Exploration ZOne facilitators
Jim Babbage
Senior Solutions Consultant
Adobe
Justin Cary
Senior Lecturer, Program Director
CHESS
Beth Oyarzun
Clinical Associate Professor
COED
Kyle Spence
Assistant Professor
COA&A
Hailey Stroder
Instructional Designer & Technologist
SPS
Scott Bokash
Instructional Designer & Technologist II
SPS
Lightning talks & Panel Discussion Speakers
Kirsten Abel
Clinical Assistant Professor
COED
Lolo Aboufoul
Graduate Student
CCI
Jennifer Adelhardt
Adjunct Faculty
BCOB
Aditi Babar
Undergraduate Student
CCI/Honors College
Ji Yae Bong
Assistant Professor
COED
Candace Brown
Associate Professor
CHHS
Justin Cary
Senior Lecturer,
Program Director
CHESS
Alex Chapin
Executive Director of Academic Technologies
OneIT
Kristin Davin
Professor
COED
Alex Dornburg
Assistant Professor
CCI
Cori Faklaris
Assistant Professor
CCI
Tiffany Gallicano
Associate Professor,
Honors Program Director
CHESS
Braxton Haight
Graduate Student
CCI
Gordon Hull
Professor
CHESS
Min Jiang
Professor
CHESS
Jules Keith-Le
Academic Technology Support Analyst,
Adjunct Faculty
OneIT/COED
Stella Kim
Associate Professor
COED
Karen Kopitsky
Graduate Student
COED
Kaela Lindquist
Associate Dean of Students and Director of Student Accountability & Conflict Resolution
Student Affairs/Dean of Students
Richard Lockton
History Instructor
CHESS
Robert Loweth
Teaching Assistant Professor
COE
Judson MacDonald
Graduate Student
COED
Daniel Maxwell
Lecturer and University Supervisor
COED
Adriana Medina
Professor
COED
Nadia Najjar
Teaching Associate Professor, Interim Director of the Integrated Core Curriculum
CCI
Casey Nash
School Customer Experience Consultant
UNC Charlotte Alumni
Natalie Ornat Bitting
Humanities Librarian
J. Murrey Atkins Library
Beth Oyarzun
Clinical Associate Professor
COED
Miranda Parker
Assistant Professor
CCI
Manuel Pérez-Quiñones
Professor
CCI
David Pugalee
Director of the Center for STEM Education
COED
Premkumar Pugalenthi
Clinical Assistant Professor
COED
Katherine Jiawen Ren
Graduate Student
COED
Tracy Rock
Professor
COED
Branden Rosenlieb
IT Director
OneIT
Beth Rugg
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Client Engagement & Chief Workplace AI Officer
OneIT
Ayesha Sadaf
Associate Professor
COED
Delandrus Seales
UNCW Faculty,
Graduate Student
COED
Shuai Shao
Graduate Student
CCI
Jane Walsh
Lecturer
KCOS
Jue Wang
Graduate Student
COED
Martyna Wasilewska
Graduate Student
CHESS
Carrie Wells
Associate Teaching Professor
KCOS
Adam Whaley
Associate Teaching Professor
CCI
Ya-Ping Wu
Associate Professor/Visiting Scholar
COED
Lufei Young
Professor
CHHS
Engagement Sponsorship
Todd Taylor
Pedagogical Evangelist and former Professor of English, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Adobe
Jim Babbage
Senior Solutions Consultant
Adobe
John Zeigler
Senior Education Account Manager
Adobe
summit organization & Leadership
Jordan Register
Instructional Designer & Technologist II
Center for Teaching & Learning
SPS
Aubrey Harrison
Senior Instructional Designer
Center for Teaching & Learning
SPS
Scott Bokash
Instructional Designer & Technologist II
Center for Teaching & Learning
SPS
Hailey Stoder
Instructional Designer & Technologist
Center for Teaching & Learning
SPS
Kiran Budhrani
Director of Teaching & Learning Innovation
Center for Teaching & Learning
SPS
J. Garvey Pyke
Executive Director
Center for Teaching & Learning
SPS
Asher Haines
Associate Provost
SPS