Purdue Executive Data Council Updates Goals, Strengthens Data Ethics Work
Executive Data Council Highlights AI Governance Among Annual Priorities
Across Purdue’s campus, faculty and staff are adopting AI tools at a pace that shows no sign of slowing. Some of those tools are straightforward: writing assistants, productivity helpers, low-stakes automation. Others involve sensitive data, third-party vendors, or AI systems making decisions that affect Purdue’s community. The question of how the university evaluates and approves those use cases falls to a relatively new body: the Data Ethics Committee.
The committee has roots in a Data Governance Board created during COVID-19, when Purdue needed oversight for decisions like contact tracing to ensure they aligned with the university’s own data principles. As AI began to take off across higher education, the need for a structured, standing committee became clear and the Data Ethics Committee was formally established in 2025, reporting to the Executive Data Council. Now in its second year, it is taking on that work in a more substantive way.
A Review Process Built for Balance
The committee’s most significant contribution so far has been building out Purdue’s AI governance and review process, which requires that any AI use case involving Purdue data or decisions made on behalf of humans be reviewed and approved before deployment. The process is structured around three tracks with a tiered design. Kenny Wilson, who co-leads the committee alongside Ian Pytlarz, describes the tiers as the committee’s attempt to hold two competing priorities in balance: innovation and speed on one side, and protecting the university’s reputation and its community on the other.
Low-risk tools, such as writing assistants and basic productivity helpers, go through a streamlined quick review. Use cases that carry medium or high risk, particularly those involving sensitive data types, third-party vendors, or AI making decisions on behalf of humans, undergo a comprehensive review evaluated by the full committee during its monthly meetings. Expedited reviews are available when executive leadership has a time-sensitive need, though the rigor of the review doesn’t change.
“The committee genuinely wants to work with use cases and enable faculty and staff to be successful in their use of AI,” said Wilson. “No one wants to stop the work that’s being done. If we can figure out some compromise or collaboration to green light it, the committee works hard to do that.”
That collaborative spirit is backed by real expertise. The committee draws on specialists from across campus including data security, legal, accessibility, and policy, alongside undergraduate and graduate student representatives. “Our reviews often surface risks that non-specialists might miss,” Pytlarz said. “When the committee raises reservations, requestors typically welcome the feedback and act on our recommendations.”
Across all tracks, the committee examines the same core areas: legal and policy compliance, data protection and privacy, bias and fairness, transparency and explainability, accessibility, security, and accountability. The work also reflects a broader higher education conversation about responsible, student-centered AI governance, including recent discussion of how institutions can put a Student AI Bill of Rights into practice. Members of the Purdue community can submit AI use cases, review previously approved tools, and access the university’s AI policy at the AI Governance and Review page.
One Year at a Time
The Data Ethics Committee sits within Purdue’s Executive Data Council (EDC), which also oversees three other committees: Data Stewards, Quality Data Experience, and Training & Communication. Each has refreshed its goals for the coming year. Each committee has its overarching responsibilities, but the the EDC deliberately keeps its goal cycles short, a philosophy its chair, Chief Data Officer Molly Amstutz, ties directly to the pace of change in the field.
“The data landscape changes so quickly that it isn’t a good use of our time to look five years out,” said Amstutz. “We’re focusing on tackling the next one, two, or three things that need addressed. It keeps people engaged, and it feels better for folks to have a digestible, actionable goal to tackle.”
The full list of committee goals is available on IDA+A’s website.
“Some of the committees will always have ongoing things to tackle,” said Amstutz. “But as the EDC has matured, we’ve moved from getting data professionals on the same page to institutionalizing that work and making sure it continues and grows under the right teams rather than staying committee-driven forever.”
The EDC was created to ensure that Purdue’s institutional information is accurate, consistently interpreted across the university, and available to those with authorized access. It serves as the primary decision-making body for cross-functional data issues. More information about the Council, its committees, and membership is available on IDA+A’s website.
