Ebony Thomas (Year Up United | Grads of Life), John Katzman (Noodle Partners, PBC.), Kathleen deLaski (Education Design Lab), and Mark Milliron (National University) join moderator Diego Arambula (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching) at the ASU+GSV Summit 2026 in Agile or Fragile…Are Universities Stuck in the Year 2000? to examine how higher education can evolve to better deliver on its mission of improving lives.
American universities were founded with a moral and civic purpose: to expand human potential and enable better lives. For generations, that purpose guided institutions as they prepared students not only for work, but for meaningful participation in society.
Today, as the needs of learners and the economy evolve, that mission is being reexamined. At the center of this conversation is an important question: If higher education exists to improve lives, how well is it doing so today—and how might it do so even better in the years ahead?
