Where institutional strategy, student success, and emerging technology meet.
The Ada Center partners with higher education institutions, state systems, foundations, and national organizations working to strengthen student success through effective and equitable use of technology.
With insights from our work with more than 700 broad access institutions, we help leaders align technology and organizational strategy to drive meaningful results.
We provide direct technical assistance, collaborate on large-scale strategic initiatives, and develop practical research and resources that help the field navigate technology and AI.
How We Partner
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We partner directly with colleges and universities to help leaders navigate technology-enabled change in support of student success. Our work helps institutions make thoughtful technology decisions, strengthen organizational capacity, and prepare for emerging opportunities—including artificial intelligence.
We frequently support institutions in:
Aligning technology investments with institutional priorities
Assessing organizational and technical readiness
Developing technology and AI strategies
Improving the effectiveness of existing student success technologies
Identifying opportunities for more connected, student-centered systems
Strengthening collaboration across academic affairs, student affairs, institutional research, and IT
Whether supporting a single initiative or broader transformation effort, our goal is the same: helping institutions align technology strategy with student success strategy.
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Many of today’s most important challenges facing higher education cannot easily be solved by institutions working alone. Navigating how emerging technologies can and should be used to strengthen pathways to economic mobility will require collaboration from policymakers, foundations, state systems, intermediary organizations, community members, and institutional leaders.
The Ada Center partners with organizations working at regional and national scales to accelerate learning, inform strategy, and strengthen technology-enabled student success across higher education.
Our partnerships often include:
Technology and AI strategy development for education systems, funders, and supporting organizations
Statewide and multi-institution technical assistance
Strategic advising for philanthropy and intermediary organizations
Design of collaborative initiatives that advance student success at scale
Current projects include supporting the Gates Foundation’s Digital Holistic Student Support strategy, partnering with AIHEC to strengthen technology capacity across Tribal Colleges, and designing national learning initiatives focused on AI adoption and organizational readiness.
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Technology is evolving rapidly, but practical guidance often lags behind. Institutions and organizations need trusted resources that help them understand what is changing, what matters, and how emerging technologies can be applied in ways that advance student success.
The Ada Center helps translate lessons from across the field into practical frameworks, shared language, and actionable insights that support better decision-making.
Our work includes:
Applied research and environmental scans
Student, practitioner, and field insight gathering
Workshop and convening design
Cohort-based learning experiences
Practical frameworks, tools, and open-access resources
Facilitation of peer learning across institutions and organizations
Through this work, we help identify emerging practices, synthesize lessons across initiatives, and equip leaders to navigate technology—and increasingly AI—with greater clarity and confidence.
Meet Our Namesake
“A new, a vast, and a powerful language is developed for the future use of analysis, in which to wield its truths so that these may become of more speedy and accurate practical application for the purposes of mankind than the means hitherto in our possession have rendered possible.”
– Ada Lovelace, Founder of Scientific Computing
