Paul LeBlanc in Conversation With Liz Hitchcock

Join us on October 3rd for a conversation with Paul LeBlanc as he discusses his new book, "Reclaiming Purpose" with Liz Hitchcock!
About this Event

About the Book

Artificial intelligence is reshaping higher education, and institutions need a strategic framework for responding with intention rather than panic. In Reclaiming Purpose, Paul LeBlanc draws on doctoral research in revolutionary technological change and decades of leadership experience―including transforming Southern New Hampshire University into the largest nonprofit online higher education provider in the United States―to offer educators and university leaders a clear-eyed perspective on what AI means for learning institutions and their missions.

Reclaiming Purpose provides practical guidance for navigating unprecedented disruption. LeBlanc presents actionable frameworks and strategic questions designed to help leaders develop institutional responses to AI integration and make informed policy decisions across their organizations. Rather than treating AI as a threat to be resisted, the book articulates a positive yet radically different vision for what education can become when institutions embrace this technology thoughtfully and deliberately. The book equips readers with a structured approach for asking better questions about technology adoption, leading to more effective implementation strategies. It offers clear perspectives on what the AI revolution means at every institutional level, from classroom instructors adapting their pedagogy to department chairs rethinking curricula to the larger purposes of higher education in an AI world. Grounded in LeBlanc’s experience leading one of higher education’s most innovative and adaptive university systems, these insights connect strategic vision with on-the-ground realities.

Written for educators, administrators, and university leaders seeking to understand AI’s implications for their institutions, Reclaiming Purpose delivers the strategic perspective and practical guidance needed to navigate technological transformation while strengthening and expanding education’s core mission. Whether developing an institutional AI policy or rethinking how learning happens in a rapidly changing landscape, readers will find constructive pathways forward rooted in purpose and informed by experience.

Order your copy of Reclaiming Purpose on The Bookery website or get your copy at the event!

About the Author

Dr. Paul J. LeBlanc is a Visiting Scholar and Special Advisor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, where he is completing a new book on AI and Education (Wiley 2026). He was the co-founder and Board Chair for Matter and Space, focusing on AI and Education. Until June 2024, he served as President of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). He remains at SNHU as a researcher, writer, and advisor. Under the 21 years of Paul’s direction, SNHU grew from 2800 students to over 250,000 and is the largest non-profit provider of online higher education in the country. Paul is considered one of America’s most innovative educators. Forbes Magazine has listed him as one of its 15 “Classroom Revolutionaries” and Washington Monthly named him one of America’s ten most innovative university presidents. In 2012, SNHU was #12 on Fast Company magazine’s “World’s Fifty Most Innovative Companies” list and was the only university included. In 2018, Paul won the prestigious IAA Institute Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence in Higher Education, joining some of the most respected university and college presidents in American higher education. In 2024 the University of Pennsylvania awarded him The Zemsky Medal for Innovation in Higher Education. He has also received the Ernest L. Boyer Award (NACU), the Distinguished Alumnus Award (AASCU), and the Ray Schroeder Leadership Award (UPCEA). He has honorary degrees from Coventry University (UK), University Camilo José Cela (Spain), and Westfield State University (US).

Praise for Reclaiming Purpose

“Drawing on his decades of experience as student, professor, and university president, Paul LeBlanc has written an important, timely―indeed indispensable―book.”

―HOWARD GARDNER, Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard University; Author of Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences; Five Minds for the Future; and Truth, Beauty and Goodness Reframed; and co-author of The Real World of College: What Higher Education Is and What It Can Be“Few leaders in higher education have earned the right to speak about the future with the depth, humility, and moral seriousness that Paul LeBlanc brings to Reclaiming Purpose. Drawing on decades of experience reinventing access and opportunity, Paul does not offer hype or easy answers. Instead, he does what the best thinkers do: he situates AI within a long arc of human history and asks what kind of people―and institutions―we must become next. This is not a book about tools. It is a book about purpose, written by one of the rare leaders who has both imagined the future and built it.”

―PATRICK METHVIN, Director of Postsecondary Success, The Gates Foundation“Reclaiming Purpose is a joy to read and engaging―like slipping into a nice warm foamy bath with a cup of hot chocolate. Except that the hot chocolate has chili in it because the book has bite. I found it compelling and timely. Having spent so many years working at the intersection of AI and learning, and having watched many promising frameworks rise and fall, I can say with confidence that this book gets the fundamentals right; and does so with a clarity and urgency that the field desperately needs.”

―DR. ROSE LUCKIN, University College London and CEO of Educate Ventures“This is the book on AI I have been waiting for. Only Paul LeBlanc could have written it. And the higher education community needs to read it and adopt its recommendations.”

―ARTHUR LEVINE, President of Brandeis University and author of The Great Upheaval and From Upheaval to Action