Volume 24
Abstract: The rapid emergence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has created a structural crisis in higher education that is as much organizational as it is pedagogical. As large language models (LLMs) and agentic systems evolve at an exponential rate, academic institutions find themselves caught between moving at the pace of technological innovation and the pace required to build institutional trust. A flagship university in the Rocky Mountain West developed a university-wide AI commitment framework that can be mapped to four robust organizational frameworks (i.e., organizational ambidexterity, relational coordination theory, the automation-augmentation paradox, and psychological safety). By applying these frameworks to a successful AI policy development context, the analysis articulates a strategy for designing for tension. This proposed strategy is a deliberate approach to governance that requires a pace of trust to enable the pace of innovation for success in GenAI infusion across college campuses. Download this article: ISEDJ - V24 N6 Page 75.pdf Recommended Citation: Firth, D., Triche, J., Tama-Sweet, I., (2026). Designing for Tension: Balancing the Pace of Trust and the Pace of Innovation in AI-Integrated Higher Education. Information Systems Education Journal 24(6) pp 75-88. https://doi.org/10.62273/MONF8056 | ||||||