VPUE
VPUE
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education

VPUE Strategic Initiatives

Academic-Residential Co-Curriculum (ARC)

Professor Larry Diamond and small group of undergraduate students sit around a wooden table outside.

VPUE’s Academic-Residential Co-Curriculum (ARC) program aims to connect undergraduates with faculty and academic staff. ARC seeks to enhance undergraduates’ opportunities to form lasting professional relationships and networks, and to develop lifelong mentors. 

ARC supports co-curricular and community building opportunities to enhance undergraduates' ability to form lasting professional connections with academic mentors who are invested in students' success.

Find more information about ARC at the VPUE webpage for Faculty and Staff

AI Meets Education at Stanford

instructor and student working together with an open laptop

AI Meets Education at Stanford (AIMES) is a VPUE effort to catalyze and support critical engagement with generative AI in Stanford teaching and learning contexts. Co-led by Senior Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Michele Elam, and Associate Vice Provost for Education Cassandra Volpe Horii, AIMES fosters discussions among faculty, instructors, and students, and lowers barriers for Stanford educators to engage productively and teach effectively in a world being profoundly impacted by AI. 

AIMES takes an agnostic “AI aware" approach, allowing for different instructor preferences and perspectives about how, if, when, and where to deploy AI or not, and recognizing that engaging with AI can inform not just what we teach but also how we teach. AIMES also considers broader urgent questions about AI and education, exploring the social, cultural, and ethical implications of such technologies on undergraduate education in particular. Some refer to this exploration as “socio-technical,” but it also means exploring AI as both a tool and a topic of critical inquiry. This makes AIMES a resource and collaborative hub for robust public conversations about AI in education at Stanford.

This effort is focused specifically on teaching and learning at Stanford University, complementing projects that advance AI research and policy in the broader world by bringing insights home to Stanford teaching and learning. Elam, the William Robertson Coe Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S) and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, and Horii, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, work with staff in VPUE and CTL to implement and connect the various projects under the AIMES umbrella with AI resources and discussions happening across Stanford.

In Spring 2026, at the behest of President Levin and Provost Martinez, we are pleased to announce that AIMES with the support of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning is launching a new university-wide seed grant program, AI in Teaching and Learning at Stanford. The goal is to bring Stanford’s world-class spirit of innovation, inquiry, and evidence to bear on the use of Artificial Intelligence in teaching and learning at the college level. The effort seeks to engage faculty, instructors, staff, and students to shape the educational future at Stanford and across the higher education landscape. The first stage of this seed grant program launches with competitive grant funding to faculty, instructors and students in several streams.

Explore AIMES on the CTL website

Leveling the Learning Landscape

An instructor assists two younger people conducting a science experiment in a lab

Leveling the Learning Landscape (L3) is a multi-year strategic effort to equalize educational access and opportunity for all Stanford undergraduates through curricular innovation and institutional reform. L3 aims to equip students with the tools they need to succeed and help them develop a sense of belonging as they launch their Stanford education. Further, through grants and professional development, L3 supports faculty ingenuity to invent and refine curricula and teaching strategies to support Stanford students whatever their learning style, background, or academic preparation.

Learn more about Leveling the Learning Landscape

Promoting Academic Communities and Engagement (PACE) 

Students on the quad

Promoting Academic Communities and Engagement (PACE) is a VPUE initiative to recenter learning as a form of self-transformation by identifying and removing obstacles to intellectual engagement in the classroom. 

Co-led by Senior Associate Vice Provosts for Undergraduate Education Lianne Kurina and Shari Palmer, PACE will address these roadblocks and amplify other groups on campus already doing so, combining new and old research with input from faculty, students, and staff as well as conversations with peer institutions. A website providing resources and best practices for faculty will launch ahead of Fall 2026. 

Until then, you can read more about PACE in this Stanford Report interview with Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Jay Hamilton. If you have questions, ideas, or are interested in collaborating with PACE, please contact PACE Program Managers Esther Cho and Lizzy Ten-Hove.