Garret Westlake selected for Google AI faculty fellowship

By David Slipher
L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs

Garret Westlake, Ph.D., vice provost for innovation and strategic design at Virginia Commonwealth University, will join the inaugural Google Higher Ed Faculty AI Fellowship for North America program.

The fellowship supports university faculty using artificial intelligence in teaching, research and institutional innovation. Fellows join a global network of academic leaders, gain opportunities to share expertise and collaborate with peers to advance responsible AI adoption and improve student success in higher education. The program culminates in an in-person meeting at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, where fellows present their final projects to industry and technology leaders.

Westlake, a professor of management and entrepreneurship in the VCU School of Business, is motivated by business and design approaches that help individuals better understand how to use AI critically, creatively and ethically, without losing the human elements of teaching and learning.

"VCU's commitment to interdisciplinary innovation and collaboration makes us a great fit for this type of fellowship program offered by Google," Westlake said. "The ability to model public-private partnership and applied learning is consistent with many of VCU's strengths as an institution."

Westlake's work has advanced pedagogical, technological, design and policy innovations across VCU. As leader of the Office of Innovation and Strategic Design, he helps academic units develop programs with a design-thinking and entrepreneurial mindset, supports cross-disciplinary collaborations and consults on innovation strategy, idea generation and business plan development.

An early adopter of AI, Westlake is a board member for AI Ready RVA and has been integrating AI in sponsored projects with industry, in the classroom and through VCU's participation with the University Innovation Alliance. He is currently exploring how future versions of Google's Career Dreamer can improve student success by building career pathways that start as early as middle school and persist through university graduation.

Westlake is further using AI tools to support the experiences of health sciences students in developing communication skills and professionalism. Using a combination of hands-on and human-centered methods to surface perspectives alongside Google's NotebookLM, he is building platforms that generate conversations that are often difficult to articulate through traditional discussion. His work has informed course design, workshop facilitation and institutional strategy across higher education, healthcare innovation and corporate strategy.

"As a public research university, we have an opportunity to leverage opportunities like this Google fellowship to create access to information and impact through the delivery of new tools and technologies," Westlake said.

Westlake joined VCU in 2016 as executive director of the VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation. He co-founded VCU's Shift Labs and is a Fast Company award winner and Impact Council member. In addition to being a tech founder himself, he serves as a consultant to Fortune 500 companies such as Allianz, Owens and Minor, and LEGO.

This article was originally published on the website of the Office of the Provost.