Schedule
The Digital Collegium Annual Conference schedule is filled with opportunities to connect, learn and lead — whether you’re joining us in person or online. From collaborative sessions to career-shaping insights, every moment is designed to deliver real value, all within a flexible hybrid format at an affordable price point.
Whether you’re a seasoned digital professional or new to the field, you’ll find a welcoming community eager to share practical strategies, fresh ideas and innovative solutions for higher ed’s digital future.
Schedule at a glance
- Pre-conference workshops (in person): Sunday, Oct. 18, 1-4:30 p.m. EDT
- Conference sessions (in person and online): Monday, Oct. 19, 8:30 a.m. - Wednesday, Oct. 21, 12:45 p.m. EDT
- Post-conference workshops (in person): Wednesday, Oct. 21, 1-4:30 p.m. EDT
Online and in-person tracks
Online and in-person tracks
| | AI and emerging tech (AIET): Discover tools and techniques that drive smarter decisions. Track chairs: Isaac Williams and Andy Shearouse |
| | Marketing and communications (MCOM): Strengthen your strategy and connect with your audiences across channels. Track chairs: Lori Packer and Sydney Jones Wright |
| | Usability, accessibility and design (UAD): Build more inclusive, intuitive and effective user experiences. Track chairs: Dan Laird and Ben Kaminsky |
In-person only tracks
In-person only tracks
| | Management, teams and personal development (MTP) Grow your leadership skills and support thriving teams. Track chairs: Michelle Tarby and Jeff Stevens |
| | Higher ed strategy and trends (HEST) Tackle emerging trends and timely challenges in our field. Track chairs: Doug Tschopp and Glenn Donaldson |
| | Data, analytics and tools (DAT) Turn data into insights with the right tools to drive informed decisions. Track chairs: Jim Kittle and Dan Demmons |
| | Development, programming and CMS (DPC) Dive deep into code, platforms and technical know-how. Track chairs: Aaron Knight and Paul Gilzow |
Detailed schedule
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| Track | Name | Speakers | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, October 18, 2026, 11:00 AM - 5:30 PM | |||
| Conference check-in and information desk | in person | ||
| Sunday, October 18, 2026, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | |||
| Lunch for workshop attendees and presenters | in person | ||
| Sunday, October 18, 2026, 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM | |||
| Pre-conference workshops (WKS) | UX for non-UXers | Melanie Lindahl — The University of Texas at Austin | in person |
| Pre-conference workshops (WKS) | AI speed dating: A hands-on workshop to find the one(s) you can't live without | Erin Callihan — New York University | in person |
| Pre-conference workshops (WKS) | Create a governance framework that works for you | Georgy Cohen — Georgy Cohen LLC | in person |
| Pre-conference workshops (WKS) | Generative engine optimization: Audit, monitor and improve your college's AI visibility | Adam Heidebrink-Bruno — Finger Lakes Community College | in person |
| Pre-conference workshops (WKS) | Make your data dashboards sizzle | Patrick Kelly — Harper College | in person |
| Sunday, October 18, 2026, 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM | |||
| Workshops afternoon break | in person | ||
| Sunday, October 18, 2026, 5:30 PM - 6:00 PM | |||
| Conference welcome and orientation | in person | ||
| Sunday, October 18, 2026, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM | |||
| Welcome reception | in person | ||
| Monday, October 19, 2026, 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM | |||
| Conference check-in and information desk | in person | ||
| Quiet workspace | in person | ||
| Monday, October 19, 2026, 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM | |||
| Breakfast — sponsored by Mighty Citizen | in person | ||
| Monday, October 19, 2026, 8:30 AM - 9:15 AM | |||
| AI and emerging tech (AIET) | Behind the prompt: How ASU builds the AI story — and how you can too | Tina Miller — Arizona State University | in person, online |
| Data, analytics and tools (DAT) | A website secret shop on any budget to reduce enrollment friction | Jessica Summers — Collegis Education | in person |
| Development, programming and CMS (DPC) | Naming things is hard: Why words become technical debt | Mike Tullo — Yale University Jim Vomero — Four Kitchens | in person |
| Higher ed strategy and trends (HEST) | After the AI hype: Digital shifts universities must make before 2027 | Piero Tintori — Terminalfour | in person, online |
| Management, teams and personal development (MTP) | Who owns the front door? Making the case for marketing-led web strategy | Jim Nourse — Penn State | in person |
| Marketing and communications (MCOM) | How to prioritize program-specific marketing: Turn program pages into enrollment growth engines | Kayla Benda — Ferris State University | in person, online |
| Usability, accessibility and design (UAD) | UX villains: A field guide to chaotic design patterns | Robin Smail — Cornell University | in person |
| Monday, October 19, 2026, 9:30 AM - 10:15 AM | |||
| AI and emerging tech (AIET) | Operationalizing AI in marcom: From experiments to integrated workflows | Mark Mazelin — Cedarville University Ashley Pichea — Cedarville University | in person, online |
| Data, analytics and tools (DAT) | BYOB: Be your own benchmark | Courtney Witmer — Penn State University | in person |
| Development, programming and CMS (DPC) | The forgotten user: Creating a better web authoring experience | Mike Hoogterp — Sam Houston State University | in person |
| Higher ed strategy and trends (HEST) | Activate your brand platform with content strategy | Georgy Cohen — Georgy Cohen LLC | in person, online |
| Management, teams and personal development (MTP) | Beyond the build: Governing content at scale in higher education | Lindsay Condry — North Dakota State University Megan Bygness Bradley — Four Kitchens Jim Vomero — Four Kitchens | in person |
| Marketing and communications (MCOM) | Breaking the CRM barrier: From ad spend to enrolled students | Robert Kadar — Yeshiva University | in person, online |
| Monday, October 19, 2026, 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM | |||
| Refreshments in the exhibit hall — sponsored by VDX.tv | in person | ||
| Break activity for online attendees | online | ||
| Monday, October 19, 2026, 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM | |||
| AI and emerging tech (AIET) | From SEO to AEO: 10 practical ways higher ed websites can show up in AI and search | Janna Fiester — Sandstorm Cameron Panice — Sandstorm | in person, online |
| Data, analytics and tools (DAT) | 57% fewer unanswered queries: What strategic AI site search can do for engagement | Sara Kelzer — Cludo Erjon Metohu — ERI Design Kristin Nichols — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts | in person |
| Development, programming and CMS (DPC) | Surviving the swarm: Bot and crawler protection for Drupal sites | Rich Lawson — Evolving Web | in person |
| Higher ed strategy and trends (HEST) | 10 GenAI tools and tricks every higher ed pro should be using | Erin Callihan — New York University | in person, online |
| Management, teams and personal development (MTP) | From chaos to craft: Maturing a decentralized web editor model | Ashleigh Carby — Bryn Mawr College Amanda Coltri, Ed.D. — Bryn Mawr College | in person |
| Marketing and communications (MCOM) | From burnout to buy-in: Designing an intentional mission-driven social media workflow that actually works | Rachael Eyler — Stony Brook University | in person, online |
| Usability, accessibility and design (UAD) | Accessibility at scale: From exceptions to systems | Michael Toguchi — Tectonic | in person |
| Monday, October 19, 2026, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | |||
| Lunch — sponsored by Concept 3D | in person | ||
| Monday, October 19, 2026, 1:00 PM - 1:45 PM | |||
| Collegium chat | in person, online | ||
| Monday, October 19, 2026, 2:00 PM - 2:45 PM | |||
| AI and emerging tech (AIET) | Preparing for AI search: What did and didn't work for us | Laura Barr — University of Rochester | in person, online |
| Data, analytics and tools (DAT) | Democratizing data: Building a culture of transparency with Google Looker Studio | Nicole Knoll — University of Iowa | in person |
| Higher ed strategy and trends (HEST) | Why AI makes now the best time to pay down your content debt | Mike Powers — OHO | in person, online |
| Management, teams and personal development (MTP) | Connecting strategy, systems and story: Designing a practical marcom analytics program | Joe Pecor — University of Tennessee, Knoxville Gloria Yu — University of Tennessee, Knoxville | in person |
| Marketing and communications (MCOM) | Embrace digital media to maximize faculty PR | Jenna Spinelle — Penn State Bill Zimmerman — Penn State | in person, online |
| Usability, accessibility and design (UAD) | When brand meets access: Micro-decisions that shape inclusive design | Callin Mullaney — Four Kitchens Mari Núñez — Four Kitchens | in person |
| Monday, October 19, 2026, 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM | |||
| Refreshments in the exhibit hall | in person | ||
| Monday, October 19, 2026, 4:00 PM - 4:45 PM | |||
| AI and emerging tech (AIET) | Know the tropes. Spot the slop. Make it human. | Taylor King — Ologie Dakota Story — Ologie | in person, online |
| Data, analytics and tools (DAT) | The brown M&M theory: What tiny content mistakes reveal about big institutional problems | Mindy Avitia — Mighty Citizen | in person |
| Development, programming and CMS (DPC) | The dark side of user choice: Why your site should implement dark mode | Nate Lamkin — MIT Sloan | in person |
| Higher ed strategy and trends (HEST) | The Y2K of digital accessibility: Navigating the DOJ rule hangover | Darren Denham, CPACC — University of Central Oklahoma | in person, online |
| Management, teams and personal development (MTP) | Finding your voice. Mentorship and leadership in higher ed digital teams | Ella Danilovich — Virginia Commonwealth University Sarah Stanley — Virginia Commonwealth University | in person |
| Marketing and communications (MCOM) | The digital front door: How design, content and governance build trust in higher ed | Jessica Pontarelli Evans — Brown University | in person, online |
| Usability, accessibility and design (UAD) | PDF: From problematic documents to fully accessible | Abbey Allen — University of Utah Josh Leigh — University of Utah | in person |
| Monday, October 19, 2026, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM | |||
| Dinner with friends | in person | ||
| Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM | |||
| Quiet workspace | in person | ||
| Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM | |||
| Breakfast — sponsored by Terminalfour | in person | ||
| Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 7:30 AM - 5:00 PM | |||
| Conference check-in and information desk | in person | ||
| Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 8:30 AM - 9:15 AM | |||
| AI and emerging tech (AIET) | As AI steals the click, steal back the answer | Tera Buckley — University of North Dakota | in person, online |
| Data, analytics and tools (DAT) | What higher ed can learn from e-commerce | Noah Kramer — KWall Company Pamela Ross — KWall Company | in person |
| Development, programming and CMS (DPC) | How the University of Wisconsin–Madison is migrating thousands of sites to the WordPress Block Editor | Nate Finch — University of Wisconsin-Madison Andrea Roenning — University of Wisconsin-Madison | in person |
| Higher ed strategy and trends (HEST) | Copilot, not autopilot: Responsible AI use in dev workflows | Mike Miles — Massachusetts Institute of Technology | in person, online |
| Management, teams and personal development (MTP) | Align before design: Why stakeholder misalignment derails digital projects | Tamara Adlin — Adlin Inc. Adam Staffa — Culture Foundry | in person |
| Marketing and communications (MCOM) | The website is dead. Long live the website: New digital strategies for the AI era | Evie Ebert — Carnegie Jon Shearer — Carnegie Greg Zguta — Carnegie | in person, online |
| Usability, accessibility and design (UAD) | Beyond the buzzwords: Topical authority for the AI-first student journey | Diane Kulseth — Siteimprove | in person |
| Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 9:30 AM - 10:15 AM | |||
| AI and emerging tech (AIET) | Using Claude Code to scale content strategy | David Poteet — NewCity | in person, online |
| Data, analytics and tools (DAT) | The connected campus experience: Unifying digital touchpoints through partnerships | Kasia Whiteis — Concept3D | in person |
| Development, programming and CMS (DPC) | The multi-site survival guide: Component-driven architecture for scalable campus ecosystems | Austin Amento — Hounder | in person |
| Higher ed strategy and trends (HEST) | Can AI build better personas? A skeptic's proof of concept (starring Christopher Walk'n as Dial-Up Internet) | Melanie Lindahl — The University of Texas at Austin | in person, online |
| Management, teams and personal development (MTP) | The 'human' element in a digital world: Balancing automation with authentic, empathy-driven interaction | Dr. Antoinette M. Boyd — Maryville University Dr. Brian Gant — Maryville University | in person |
| Marketing and communications (MCOM) | Beyond the send button: Technical precision meets digital strategy | Aparna Shrivastava — The University of Texas at Dallas | in person, online |
| Usability, accessibility and design (UAD) | Taking control of an out-of-control website through thoughtful and intentional redesign | Jessica Mondi — Penn State | in person |
| Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM | |||
| Refreshments in the exhibit hall — sponsored by Cludo | in person | ||
| Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM | |||
| AI and emerging tech (AIET) | Allychemy: Leveraging AI to build a user-friendly accessibility checker | Bill Columbia — UF Health Jeff Stevens — UF Health Kyle Tucker — UF Health | in person, online |
| Data, analytics and tools (DAT) | Inform your marketing | Staci Grimes — Gettysburg College Jamie Yates — Gettysburg College | in person |
| Development, programming and CMS (DPC) | From blocks to brilliance: Creating editorial freedom in Drupal for UChicago Law's alumni magazine | Nathan Haas — Sandstorm Syd Hunsinger — Sandstorm | in person |
| Higher ed strategy and trends (HEST) | Build your automated insight collaborator | Brian Piper — AIreFlow Solutions | in person, online |
| Marketing and communications (MCOM) | Preserving your individuality in a brand alignment | Chloé Bell — University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Joshua Jennings — University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | in person, online |
| Usability, accessibility and design (UAD) | A reimagined, reinvigorated and relaunched website! | Laura Waits — University of Texas at Tyler | in person |
| Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | |||
| Lunch — sponsored by GMB | in person | ||
| Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 12:45 PM - 1:45 PM | |||
| Lightning talks | in person, online | ||
| Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 2:00 PM - 2:45 PM | |||
| AI and emerging tech (AIET) | Why students can’t find what they need on your website (and how TCU is fixing it with AI) | Jeff Dillon — SearchStax Corey Reed — Texas Christian University | in person, online |
| Data, analytics and tools (DAT) | Stop asking for permission: How small wins build big institutional change | Devin Purgason — Forsyth Technical Community College Mallory Willsea — Willsea Consulting | in person |
| Development, programming and CMS (DPC) | Beyond SaaS: How non-coders can build university applications with AI assistants | Andrew Freiman — University of Mississippi | in person |
| Higher ed strategy and trends (HEST) | Consistency at scale: Unified digital experiences through governance, standards and communities of practice | Joyce Peralta — McGill University | in person, online |
| Management, teams and personal development (MTP) | Center community and use what you have: A case study in building a community of practice at a university | Marina Borker — Drexel University Christopher Hill — Drexel University | in person |
| Marketing and communications (MCOM) | Why your analytics reports are not answering leadership's real questions | Mandee Englert — JAKALA Rebecka Hall — Old Dominion University | in person, online |
| Usability, accessibility and design (UAD) | Passing isn’t accessible: Why manual testing still matters | Candice Dexter — Kanopi Studios | in person |
| Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM | |||
| Break activity for online attendees | online | ||
| Refreshments in the exhibit hall | in person | ||
| Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 4:00 PM - 4:45 PM | |||
| AI and emerging tech (AIET) | 'What are the best schools for…' — How AI decides who makes the list | Brian Clark — Rhode Island School of Design Elliott Mower — Current | in person, online |
| Data, analytics and tools (DAT) | From content hoarding to data-driven decisions: Using AI to audit content at scale | Laura Garling — Palantir.net | in person |
| Development, programming and CMS (DPC) | Capsule content: One block — six ways | Pablo Moore — Purdue University Kerri Richardson — Purdue University | in person |
| Higher ed strategy and trends (HEST) | Oatmeal raisin or chocolate chip? Cookie consent that isn’t half-baked | Gabriel Nagmay — Portland Community College | in person, online |
| Management, teams and personal development (MTP) | Solving the right problem: Why web governance fails when it starts with control | Danny Collier — Tiseran Craig Zaccaro — George Mason University | in person |
| Usability, accessibility and design (UAD) | Beyond static: Bringing stanford.edu to Life | Justin Rent — Stanford University | in person |
| Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM | |||
| Big social event | in person | ||
| Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 7:00 AM - 4:30 PM | |||
| Quiet workspace | in person | ||
| Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM | |||
| Breakfast | in person | ||
| Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 7:30 AM - 1:00 PM | |||
| Conference check-in and information desk | in person | ||
| Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 8:05 AM - 8:15 AM | |||
| Red Stapler announcement | in person | ||
| Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 8:30 AM - 9:15 AM | |||
| Red Stapler sessions | in person, online | ||
| Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 9:30 AM - 10:15 AM | |||
| Community group discussions | in person | ||
| Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM | |||
| Refreshments in the exhibit hall | in person | ||
| Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 10:45 AM - 12:00 PM | |||
| Awards and keynote | Priya Parker | in person, online | |
| Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM | |||
| Lunch — sponsored by Evolving Web | in person | ||
| Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM | |||
| Post-conference workshops (WKS) | Copilot, not autopilot: A hands-on workshop for responsible AI in dev workflows | Mike Miles — Massachusetts Institute of Technology | in person |
| Post-conference workshops (WKS) | Content strategy and AI — from fundamentals to future-ready | Brian Piper — AIreFlow Solutions | in person |
| Post-conference workshops (WKS) | Student journey mapping: Learning from students to unlock new opportunities | JP Rains — Laurentian University | in person |
| Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM | |||
| Workshops afternoon break | in person | ||