By Jim Shimabukuro (assisted by ChatGPT)
Editor
Introduction: This is a list of U.S.-based higher-education (and higher-ed–focused) conferences that were announced in 2025 and are scheduled for 2026, with a clear AI theme or significant AI programming. Included are the conference dates (in 2026), city/state, sponsor/host, whether it’s in-person/hybrid/online, proposal/deadline info (where available), a short description of the AI emphasis, and a link to the conference page for more details.
March 15–18, 2026: The League for Innovation – Innovations 2026 (the League’s annual Innovations Conference for community colleges) will take place March 15–18, 2026 in Indianapolis, IN (JW Marriott Indianapolis). The League announced its 2026 conference and an AI-focused strand in 2025: the program materials and promotional pages highlight an “AI Academy,” an AI Fellows program tied to the conference, and multiple AI-related webinars and tracks running into December 2025 and January 2026. The League’s call for proposals for Innovations 2026 was open in 2025 (with submission deadlines publicized through October 2025 and, in 2025, extended in some messaging). This conference is relevant if your interest includes AI adoption and capacity building at community and two-year colleges. (League)
March 21–24, 2026: The Higher Learning Commission’s (HLC) “Higher Learning 2026” annual conference (March 21–24, 2026, Chicago, IL) was publicly announced in 2025 with a call for proposals that opened in July 2025 and ran through September 10, 2025. While HLC’s conference covers broad accreditation and institutional improvement topics, the 2026 program and proposal guidance explicitly invite submissions about institutional responses to AI (governance, academic quality, use of AI in pedagogy and assessment, and AI-related policy and integrity). Registration was slated to open in November 2025 and HLC publishes the proposal/guide materials on the conference site. Because HLC is the regional accreditor, this conference is often where institutional leaders and policy-makers discuss governance and system-level AI responses across higher education. (Higher Learning Commission)
April 12–15, 2026: The ASU+GSV Summit (and The AI Show @ ASU+GSV) is scheduled for April 12–15, 2026 in San Diego, CA, with The AI Show (an immersive, education-AI exhibit and program) running April 11–13, 2026 at the San Diego Convention Center. ASU+GSV (a partnership between Arizona State University and GSV) is an education-innovation summit that attracts K-12, higher-ed leaders, edtech entrepreneurs, investors, and policy people; The AI Show is explicitly framed as “the world’s greatest show for all things AI in EDU,” featuring hands-on workshops, demos, and programming oriented to AI’s role in teaching, workforce training, and institutional strategy. The summit pages (announced in 2025) list registration and program timelines; note that ASU+GSV is more industry/EdTech convening than a university-hosted academic CFP-style conference, but it has substantial higher-education attendance and AI programming. (ASU+GSV Summit)
April 21-23, 2026: 31st Annual Teaching, Colleges, and Community (TCC) Worldwide Online Conference, based in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Theme: Human by Design: AI, Creativity and Purpose in Education. As AI reshapes how we teach, learn, and connect, the most important question is not just what technology can do, but why and how we use it. This year’s TCC conference explores the intentional integration of technology into education—emphasizing human creativity, ethical responsibility, and purposeful practice. Deadline to submit a proposal for presentations, papers, and interactive sessions is December 12, 2025, 11:59 PM, HST. FULL PAPERS must be completed and emailed to Shamila Janakiraman <shamilaj@hawaii.edu> by January 5, 2026. All submissions will be peer-reviewed. You will be notified by e-mail when a determination is made. Conference webpage: https://tcchawaii.io/
May 13, 2026: The AI Summit for Smarter Learning at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (hosted by UNC Charlotte’s Center for Teaching and Learning) is scheduled as a one-day, in-person summit on May 13, 2026 at the Dubois Center in Charlotte, NC. The campus announced the 2026 summit in 2025 and opened both registration and the call for proposals on November 5, 2025; the call for proposals closes February 5, 2026. The summit’s theme — “Towards Human-AI Partnerships in Teaching and Learning” — focuses explicitly on generative AI, AI literacy, discipline-specific use cases, assessment and integrity, ethics, campus AI initiatives, and hands-on practice with generative tools. The event is free for UNC Charlotte attendees and is intended for faculty, staff, and administrators engaged in AI integration on campus. (The Center for Teaching and Learning)
June 11–13, 2026: The University of Central Florida’s Teaching and Learning with AI conference is being presented by UCF’s Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, the Division of Digital Learning, and UCF Libraries and will run June 11–13, 2026 in Orlando (Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center). This is an in-person, practice-oriented event for faculty and instructional staff that explicitly centers the use of AI in the classroom (pedagogy, academic integrity, accessibility, assessment, faculty development), and the site lists key dates: the call for proposals opens October 15, 2025, general proposals close January 30, 2026, registration opens October 27, 2025, and the conference begins June 11, 2026. For sponsorship and organizer contact details the UCF conference page lists the hosting units and an event committee. (Artificial Intelligence for All)
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Educational Technology and Change Journal 
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