AI Talks #6 | "Faculty Have Never Been Trained to Teach": A University President's Radical Bet on AI

What if everything universities have been doing for the last 40 years has been wrong? In this episode of AI Talks by BinaryWorks, host Sathish Kumar sits down with Dr. Nick Ladany, President of San Francisco Bay University, Forbes contributor, Silicon Valley Newsmaker 100 honoree, and one of the most unconventional voices in higher education today. With decades of experience leading institutions from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta to the University of San Diego, Santa Clara, and now SFBU in the heart of Silicon Valley, Nick has seen the system from every angle and has come to one conclusion: it needs to be rebuilt from scratch. At SFBU, that's exactly what he's doing. A $10,000 per year tuition in Stanford's backyard. An MBA that costs $10,000 for the entire degree. AI avatar professors available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A Startup Scholars Program giving students free tuition, free room and board, and a $10,000 stipend to build their own company. Neighborhood campuses in public libraries and community spaces. And an 80 to 85 percent four-year graduation rate at a time when the national average sits at 50 percent. Nick does not pull punches in this conversation. He calls out the "dirty little secret" that faculty are never trained to teach. He challenges the 120-credit degree structure that universities adopted a century ago for faculty convenience, not student outcomes. He names the exploitation of student belief in higher education as a core driver of unaffordable tuition. And he calls out institutions closing every week for not seeing what was coming. Key takeaways from this episode: Nick reveals how SFBU has achieved an 80 to 85 percent four-year graduation rate while the national average sits at 50 percent, and how AI avatar professors are a central part of that achievement. He describes a salary negotiation simulation where students learn the skill through an AI professor avatar, then practice it with an AI avatar boss, receive immediate detailed feedback, and repeat until they demonstrate real proficiency, all before they ever face a real employer. He explains the Startup Scholars Program where selected undergraduates receive free tuition, free room and board, and a $10,000 stipend to develop their own company idea. He introduces the neighborhood campus model, small footprint campuses in public libraries and community spaces, starting in San Jose and Oakland and expanding southward to LA and San Diego. And he delivers a clear warning to traditional institutions: one university is closing every week, and most of them should have seen it coming years ago. His challenge to the industry is simple. Stop doing what you've always done. Stop adding rock climbing walls and lazy rivers. Stop exploiting student belief in education to raise tuition. Start training faculty to teach. Start building models that graduate students in four years. Start building with AI, not against it. About the Guest: Dr. Nick Ladany is the President of San Francisco Bay University, a Forbes contributor, and a Silicon Valley Newsmaker 100 honoree. He has spent over 30 years in higher education leadership across institutions including Oglethorpe University, University of San Diego, and Santa Clara University. About the Host: Sathish Kumar is the Co-Founder of BinaryWorks, helping higher education institutions leverage technology for growth, efficiency, and student success. Subscribe for more conversations on how AI is transforming higher education.