Introducing the Applied AI Academy Service for Colleges and Universities

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how students learn, how faculty teach, and how institutions prepare communities for the future of work. The question for many colleges and universities is no longer whether AI belongs on campus. It is how to introduce it in a way that is practical, responsible, inclusive, and aligned with institutional mission.

R. Michael Brown LLC is pleased to announce a new service designed to help higher-education institutions launch an Applied AI Academy.

An Applied AI Academy is not simply another technology workshop series. It is a focused strategy for building AI capability across the institution – connecting faculty development, student learning, workforce relevance, community engagement, ethical practice, and real-world application.

Every participant that completes the Academy will gain a minimum of 15 hours of productivity a week. That’s 780 hours a year to do what is more important to the participant and the organization where they work. What would you do with over 19 more weeks worth of time per year?

Why This Service Now?

All new technologies follow this growth curve. AI is no different. What is this doing to businesses and organizations today? You can be the solution and grow with the Mass Adoption curve. The time to act is NOW! See my recent articles:

How I Can Help You Today

Through this service, R. Michael Brown LLC works with colleges and universities to develop a launch approach tailored to their needs, culture, academic programs, and regional workforce priorities. The goal is to help institutions create an academy that gives learners and educators meaningful opportunities to understand, use, evaluate, and apply artificial intelligence in authentic contexts.

An Applied AI Academy can help your institution:

Equip faculty and staff with practical AI knowledge and confidence.
Create accessible learning opportunities for students across disciplines—not only in technical programs.
Connect AI education to workforce development, entrepreneurship, and local employer needs.
Establish thoughtful guidance around responsible, ethical, and human-centered AI use.
Build a visible institutional initiative that demonstrates leadership in AI readiness.
Move from isolated AI conversations to a coordinated, sustainable campus strategy.

Every institution is approaching AI from a different starting point. Some are looking to build faculty capacity. Others want to support students entering an AI-shaped workforce, strengthen community education, develop new programming, or organize the many AI-related efforts already emerging across campus.

The Applied AI Academy Launch Service is designed to help turn that interest into an actionable plan.

Whether your institution is just beginning its AI conversation or ready to organize a more ambitious initiative, R. Michael Brown LLC can help you define the academy’s purpose, identify priority audiences, shape programming, develop a launch roadmap, and create an approach that reflects the values of your campus and community.

Learn more about launching an Applied AI Academy at R. Michael Brown LLC:

Launch an Applied AI Academy

Why R. Michael Brown LLC

An Applied AI Academy requires more than enthusiasm for a new technology. It requires someone who understands how emerging tools become useful learning programs, how institutions build internal support, how learners gain practical skills, and how a strong initiative is communicated to students, faculty, employers, and the wider community.

R. Michael Brown brings more than two decades of experience at the intersection of technology, education, communications, media, marketing, and organizational change. His work has included helping major technology companies explain and apply new digital tools, developing curriculum and teaching in corporate and college settings, leading university partnerships, and building high-visibility programs that delivered measurable audience, enrollment, engagement, and revenue results.

Technology and Innovation Experience

Before today’s AI revolution, Michael worked at the leading edge of multimedia, digital communication, and web-enabled learning. At IBM, he helped pioneer multimedia communication, established IBM’s first multimedia studio, produced major presentations and educational materials, and served as a staff instructor for IBM Management School. He also worked as a lead speechwriter and multimedia producer for IBM CEO Lou Gerstner and authored IBM Press books on computer languages and multimedia.

At Motorola Solutions, Michael served as Global Multimedia Marketing Communications Manager, where he created global multimedia campaigns, produced web and media content for enterprise, government, and network audiences, and taught communication and multimedia courses through Motorola University. His work included support for the launch of Nextel, recognized by BusinessWeek as its “Product of the Decade,” as well as multimedia projects that reached national and international audiences.

This background matters for an Applied AI Academy because AI adoption is not only a technical issue. It is a learning, communication, implementation, and leadership issue. Michael has spent his career helping organizations translate complex, fast-changing technology into practical tools, compelling learning experiences, and real-world value.

Higher Education and Curriculum Leadership

Michael brings direct experience teaching, developing curriculum, and building education partnerships across corporate, college, university, and community settings.

He currently teaches public speaking, speechwriting, and presentation production at Florida Atlantic University and South Florida State College, in both online and classroom settings.
He previously developed and taught news writing, reporting, multimedia development, and broadcast journalism at Miami Dade College.
At IBM Management School, he taught business communication, presentation, writing, and multimedia-development courses for approximately a decade.
Through Motorola University, he taught communication and multimedia courses designed to help employees use emerging technologies effectively in their work.
He developed applied multimedia curriculum for Full Sail University, bringing corporate technology and production expertise into career-focused higher education.

Just as important, Michael served as IBM’s University Relations Manager for communications. In that role, he helped establish bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in communication at Barry University for IBM employees – experience directly relevant to building partnerships among employers, universities, learners, and academic leadership.

Marketing, Media, and Major-Market Results

An academy must be well designed – but it also must be understood, trusted, and adopted. Michael’s career includes the strategic marketing, media, and communications experience needed to position an Applied AI Academy for faculty, students, employers, donors, trustees, and community partners.

At PulteGroup, he directed marketing and public relations for more than 80 Florida communities. His work increased qualified prospects from 70,000 to 300,000 and supported sales of more than 4,200 homes annually. He also built an in-house agency that reduced marketing cost per home sold from $7,400 to $1,200 while strengthening lead generation and sales support.

As Vice President of Marketing and Communications for My State MLS and Go Home TV, Michael led a digital-growth strategy that increased website traffic by 26 percent to 5.2 million page views and 879,000 monthly users. He expanded Facebook from fewer than 300 followers to 10,128, increased reach to 1.44 million, and helped launch and build the Go Home TV YouTube audience.

He has also led communications and community education initiatives for the Town of Palm Beach Civic Association, producing Palm Beach TV and This Week in Palm Beach, planning 24 to 27 programs annually, increasing membership 48 percent, and expanding social-media presence by 1,200 percent.

A Practical Partner for AI Readiness

R. Michael Brown LLC brings a distinctive combination of capabilities to the Applied AI Academy launch process:

Technology perspective: Experience working with transformative technologies before they become familiar, mainstream tools.
Education expertise: Hands-on teaching, curriculum development, faculty-facing instruction, and university partnership experience.
Workforce relevance: A career spent connecting communication, technology, business needs, and practical skill development.
Program leadership: Experience leading cross-functional initiatives, community programs, virtual learning transitions, and public-facing educational efforts.
Audience development: Proven ability to turn strong ideas into understandable, engaging initiatives that attract participation and support.
Responsible communication: A foundation in journalism, public communication, ethical messaging, and helping people make sense of complex change.

At Junior Achievement of the Palm Beaches, Michael helped transition an entire K–12 education organization to virtual delivery within two weeks during the COVID-19 school closures. The organization ultimately served 40,874 students—exceeding its annual goal of 25,500—and expanded social-media engagement by more than 3,200 percent. That experience reflects the kind of practical, adaptable leadership institutions need as they build meaningful AI-learning opportunities.

R. Michael Brown LLC can help your institution move from AI interest to AI capability—with a launch strategy grounded in education, workforce relevance, technology adoption, clear communication, and measurable engagement.