HECA College Knowledge Major Talks: AI

Description

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming industries and redefining the future of work, but how are we, as educators and counselors, preparing students for this shift? This session will explore how AI is influencing college majors and career pathways, and how we can better educate students and families about AI-focused academic opportunities. Attendees will learn about colleges offering AI majors and coursework, gain insight into how institutions are integrating AI into their curricula, and leave with tools to help students navigate this fast-evolving field with confidence.

Carnegie Mellon University: Artificial Intelligence has become an area of fascination and interest for prospective college students. During this session Justin Mohney will discuss how a variety of programs across Carnegie Mellon are incorporating opportunities to learn about and leverage AI in the undergraduate experience.

Arizona State University: During this session, Jason Nichols will discuss AI in business (the landscape, and our degrees), AI in the university and the curriculum, and AI with students.

 Diane Campbell
 HECA Member, College Counselor
 

Diane Campbell has been a professional school and college counselor for over 18 years. She has worked at the university, middle, and high school levels, guiding students in college/career development and planning. Diane is co-owner of Educational Futures. Diane's exceptional contributions to the field of college counseling have been recognized with several prestigious awards. 

She is the current President of the Rocky Mountain Association of College Admission Counseling and past Professional Development Chair. Her advisory roles for the College Board and Slate.org, along with her contributions to various college admissions counselor advisory boards nationwide, further underline her influence in the field. Notably, she was named the 2017 CTCL (Colleges That Changes Lives) Counselor of the Year, a 2019 RMACAC Roger Campbell recipient, and most recently, the 2023 Colorado Counselor of High School Relations Counselor of the Year. She presents at local and national conferences on various college admissions and career topics and trends, and she has been a guest speaker on several podcasts. Her insights have been featured in notable publications such as the Washington Post, Chronicle of Higher Ed and Jeff Selingo’s book, Who Gets in and Why. A native of San Diego, CA, Diane has lived in Pittsburgh, PA, Chicago, IL, and most recently, Colorado. She graduated from Colorado State University with a Master’s Degree in School/College Counseling.

  Justin J. Mohney
  Director of Recruitment, Office of Admission
  Carnegie Mellon University

Justin Mohney is the Director of Recruitment in the Office of Admission at Carnegie Mellon University. Justin has sixteen+ years of experience working in enrollment management, recruiting students from diverse geographic and cultural backgrounds for both academic and artistic programs within the university. Justin also volunteers his time with the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) and the Pennsylvania Association for College Admission Counseling (PACAC). Justin completed a Master of Science in Higher Education in 2015 from Drexel University with a concentration in Educational Policy. As a part of this program, he completed a research co-op titled “Enrollment Decisions of Rural Students at a Selective Urban University”. Justin received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University in 2009. Upon completion of his undergraduate education, he began work for Carnegie Mellon as an Assistant Director of Admission. As a part of his work, Justin has travelled to over 35 states recruiting for the university. As a volunteer, Justin has presented on topics including budgeting models in higher education, the use of character in the admission process, and fostering a more inclusive and equitable campus visit program at events including PACAC’s Annual Conference, PACAC’s Middle Management Institute, and NACAC’s Annual Conference. He has served on PACAC’s executive committee and president’s council, serving as the Association’s president during the 2021-2022 academic year. In 2025, Justin was honored by the Association with the William R. McClintick, Jr. Service Award for his work at Carnegie Mellon University and with PACAC. Additionally, Justin serves as co-chair of the Local Arrangements Committee for NACAC’s Pittsburgh National College Fair.

  Jason Nichols
  Clinical Professor and Associate Chair
  Arizona State University, W.P. Carey Information Systems Department

Jason Nichols is a Clinical Professor and Associate Department Chair for the Department of Information Systems in the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University (ASU). He has also served as the departmental Teaching Lead, and as a co-PI on the AZNext Workforce Accelerator, working to create career pathway programs for upskilling and reskilling its participants into new technology careers. He has developed curriculum for highly evaluated and successful courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level, spanning the fields of information systems, business data analytics, and AI in business. He has contributed to numerous grant-funded initiatives, in partnership with organizations including the Department of Defense, NASA, and the Department of Labor. Through his work on these initiatives, and his affiliations with centers of excellence such as CAPS Research, he has developed and delivered trainings for many fortune 500 firms.