Safeguarding Higher-Ed Through AI Practices & Ethics (SHAPE) AI Initiative
Student Defense launched the SHAPE AI Initiative in September 2025 to provide strategic guidance, policy recommendations, and educational resources that promote ethical, responsible, student-friendly, and transparent uses of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education.
Student Defense will convene an Advisory Committee of higher education leaders and experts on AI to develop guidance and best practices that can serve as resources for institutions across the country. The SHAPE AI Initiative will work to:
Develop Oversight Guidance: Analyze institutional governance structures for AI oversight across different universities.
Promote Access and Opportunity for All Learners: Ensure AI implementations do not exacerbate existing inequalities, and advocate for inclusive design and deployment practices impacting learners.
Encourage Transparency and Literacy: Offer guidance on how AI decisions can be made transparent and support building digital literacy around AI tools.
Propose Policies for Use of AI in Student Success Initiatives: Develop principles and best practices for AI use in recruitment, advising, and student support practices.
Stakeholders will provide input and guidance on developing the content. The group will then develop a series of materials and policy guidance on how higher education institutions can best serve and protect students while utilizing AI for student recruitment, admissions, college success, access to benefits and basic needs, mental health services, and building AI literacy.
SHAPE AI Initiative’s Advisory Committee
Mohamed Abdel-Kader: Founder & Principal, Radial Global Advisory; Former Chief Innovation Officer, USAID
Saanvi Arora: Executive Director, Youth Power Project; Governance Council Member, U.S. Student Association
Alvaro Bedoya: Former Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission
Jessie Brown: Executive Vice President, American Council on Education
Indivar Dutta-Gupta: CEO and Founder of Blue Lotus Strategies
Kemi Jona: Vice Provost for Online Education and Digital Innovation; University of Virginia
Mairead Jones-Kennelly: Senior Counsel; State University of New York and the AI Legal Institute at SUNY (ALIS)
James Kvaal: Former Undersecretary, U.S. Department of Education
Michael Meotti: Executive Director, Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC)
Hironao Okahana: Managing Researcher and Chief of Planning and Impact, American Council on Education
Joy Silvern: Former Deputy Chief of Staff, U.S. Department of Education
Joya Wheatfall-Melvin: Student, Master of Science in Data Science for Public Policy, McCourt School of Public Policy
Sarah Zearfoss: Dean of Admissions; University of Michigan Law School
Advisors are participating in their individual expert capacity and not as official representatives of their employers.
