William & Mary President discusses AI, civil discourse and education with Conference Board
Plus, political signs and HOA rules during campaign season; Williamsburg water quality; Freaky Friday auditions
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, questions about the future of leadership, citizenship, and civic life have taken on renewed importance amid growing political and social polarization. William & Mary President Katherine Rowe recently discussed how higher education can help develop future citizens and leaders, drawing on the university’s historical role in educating American founders.
In a podcast interview with The Conference Board, Rowe spoke with David Young, a William & Mary alumnus and President of The CEO Center at The Conference Board. The discussion appeared on C-Suite Perspectives, a podcast that provides insights for business leaders on issues. The Conference Board describes itself as a global nonprofit think tank and business membership organization.
The conversation explored multiple topics, including importance of civic leadership skills, the university’s artificial intelligence initiatives, the Better Arguments program, a national teacher-preparation effort, and the work of William & Mary’s AidData research lab.
AI and W&M
Rowe compared the current period of AI-driven transformation to the historical expansion of print technology between the 15th and 17th centuries, when increasing literacy outpaced institutional control and raised concerns about accuracy and truthfulness. She commented that society is again facing a moment in which standards of accuracy and truthfulness must be taught and relearned within a new technological environment.
Rowe cited a study by the Strada Institute for the Future of Work that found critical thinking and communication are valued more highly than AI literacy in entry-level hiring. The report concluded that employers rank critical thinking and communication as the most important skills for entry-level hires, while AI literacy ranks lowest among the skills evaluated. The report also found that employers generally view AI as more likely to increase than reduce entry-level hiring and that AI is shifting entry-level work away from routine administrative tasks toward more analytical responsibilities.
AI AND ENTRY-LEVEL HIRING
The Strada Institute for the Future of Work surveyed nearly 1,500 executives and senior talent leaders nationwide about how artificial intelligence is affecting entry-level hiring.
HIRING OUTLOOK
50% expect AI to increase entry-level hiring
26% expect AI to decrease entry-level hiring
AI is 2.7 times more likely to increase hiring than reduce it
CHANGING JOB RESPONSIBILITIES
42% report increased analytical responsibilities
41% report reduced routine administrative tasks
33% report reduced foundational or skill-building tasks
SKILLS & CAREER READINESS
Critical Thinking: 4.3/5
Communication: 4.3/5
Collaboration: 4.2/5
AI Literacy: 3.6/5 (lowest-rated skill)
Most preferred candidates: Direct work experience, internships, and project-based learning
Least preferred candidate: 4.0 GPA with no work experience
Rowe pointed to the increasing importance of “critical thinking, that analytic judgment that I spoke of earlier, and communication.” She described those skills as more valuable in entry-level hiring than AI literacy, arguing that they have become even more important because “AI literacy makes other kinds of learning so swift.”
According to Rowe, William & Mary’s approach combines a traditional liberal arts and sciences education with technology literacy. She described critical thinking, judgment, moral assessment, and information synthesis as central skills for students navigating an AI-driven world through the university’s AI initiatives.
That approach is reflected in William & Mary’s artificial intelligence minor, launched in 2025 through the School of Computing, Data Sciences & Physics. The program combines technical AI training with instruction on ethics, privacy, equity, and the broader societal impacts of AI, and is designed to complement majors across a wide range of disciplines.
“Better Arguments” curriculum
Rowe highlighted William & Mary’s adoption of the Better Arguments curriculum, a dialogue-based model adapted from principles developed by the Aspen Institute.
According to Rowe, the program is designed to turn conflict into a learning opportunity by taking winning “off the table” and encouraging participants to listen passionately and respect disagreement. She noted that the curriculum has been part of new student orientation since 2021, meaning every current William & Mary student has participated.
She reported that more than 80 percent of faculty and staff, along with university leadership boards and the Board of Visitors, have also participated. The curriculum has been incorporated into the work of the university’s conflict resolution and peer mediation programs and its ombuds office, and is used in student assembly meetings to support productive discussion and decision-making.
Rowe pointed to the program’s impact across the university community, stating, “I hear it in our student assembly meetings. It’s quite powerful and leads to really productive meetings and decision-making by our student leaders.” She added that faculty, alumni, and parents have responded positively to the approach, noting, “Alumni have loved it. They are continually asking us for more workshops, and we run those out of the Washington Center if anybody would like to hear them. We run them at events. We do it with parents. Parents are thrilled by it.”
“We the Teachers” program
Rowe also discussed We the Teachers: Preparing the Next Generation Through History & Civics, a national educator initiative led by William & Mary in partnership with the National Council for History Education.
The program is intended to strengthen K-12 history and civics education through teacher preparation and continuing education grounded in Better Arguments principles, primary-source instruction, and evidence-based teaching practices. Supported by a Department of Education grant of nearly $3 million, the initiative is part of William & Mary’s contribution to the nation’s semiquincentennial.
“So by the end of three years, we expect to have educated something like a million middle and high school teachers, history teachers, social studies teachers, in a refreshed 21st-century version of American civics,” Rowe said. She described the effort as “one of our birthday presents to the nation, as we honor the nation.”
As part of that effort, William & Mary will host the inaugural Congress of Educators in Williamsburg from July 26-30, 2026. The event will bring together 100 teacher leaders from across the country for an immersive program featuring content and pedagogy sessions, engagement with scholars and museum educators, museum visits, and place-based learning opportunities.
AidData
Rowe highlighted the work of AidData, a research lab housed at William & Mary that studies development finance, foreign influence, and public investments around the world.
“AidData is one of our big labs. It tracks $6 trillion of development aid worldwide and shows where it’s being invested by which countries every year and what the effects are,” Rowe said. She added that “that work is being done by undergraduates and graduate students at William & Mary under the leadership of the folks who work there at AidData.”
Rowe pointed to research that helped reveal the scope of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and examined debt-related risks associated with Chinese overseas lending. AidData states that it provides data, research, and analytical tools for governments, international organizations, and policymakers. Rowe noted that AidData’s work will help inform the Robert M. Gates Initiative in American Statecraft. According to AidData, the organization has managed more than 140 grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements worth more than $85 million over the past 20 years.
In other news …
Navigating HOA Political Sign Disputes Under Virginia Law
With campaign season already begun, residents in HOA communities may soon find themselves weighing political sign rules against what Virginia law actually permits, a topic addressed in detail in “Political Signs HOA Rules in Virginia, Your Rights, Explained,” which appears on the blog HOA Translate.
The key question in most of these disputes isn’t whether a board can regulate signs at all, but whether a given rule is steering how a sign looks and where it sits, versus quietly functioning as a way to keep it out altogether. Virginia HOA declarations vary widely on sign provisions, but § 55.1-1819.1 controls regardless of declaration text. Here’s how common rule types tend to hold up, along with the disputes they tend to produce:
A window defining when signs can go up and must come down is workable in most cases, but boards that squeeze that window down to just a week or two risk having it treated as a ban dressed up as a scheduling rule. This plays out in practice when a resident posts a sign 30 days before an election under a rule allowing only 14 days, a real dispute, since most communities allow a month or two of lead time and a campaign’s visibility typically depends on more than a final two weeks. The resident’s recourse is to lay out the timeline in writing and point to the wider windows other communities use as part of any appeal.
An outright ban on political signs doesn’t survive under § 55.1-1819.1, no matter how long the governing documents have included it. This is what’s really at stake when a board cites a catch-all “temporary signage” policy against a political sign, or when decades-old CC&R language banning all temporary signs gets invoked with a daily fine attached. Pre-emption applies regardless of the rule’s age or how long it sat unenforced. In either case, the resident’s move is to request the exact provision relied on, push for the notice to be rescinded in writing, and flag that any fine assessed without the required notice-and-hearing process is a separate problem of its own.
A requirement that an architectural committee sign off before a political sign goes up is vulnerable when applied strictly, since the law gives residents a right to display that doesn’t run through architectural review, and a pre-approval hurdle can easily slow or discourage protected speech in practice. This is the issue when a committee rejects a sign over vague references to “aesthetics” or “community standards”: the statute doesn’t give review boards a say in whether political signs go up at all. The response is to ask for the specific, written standard the sign supposedly violated; without one on the books, the rejection doesn’t hold up regardless of the board’s opinion.
One candidate’s sign getting cited while a rival’s goes unaddressed is about as clear as evidence gets that a board has overstepped into picking sides, and it doesn’t map to any one rule type above, it can surface alongside any of them. The resident’s strongest move here is to capture dated photos of both signs along with the notice itself, then put the discrepancy in writing alongside a reference to the statute; boards typically back down once this kind of record exists.
Other typical HOA rules
A square-footage cap on sign size tends to survive scrutiny as long as residents can still actually read the sign from the street or sidewalk.
A cap on how many signs a lot can display is usually fine too, though boards that cap it at just one sign may run into trouble in races with several candidates or multiple ballot measures.
Rules about where on the lot a sign sits generally pass muster as ordinary placement regulation, unless a required setback effectively tucks the sign out of public sight.
Restrictions on how a sign is made, barring homemade signs in favor of professionally printed ones, for instance, sit on shakier ground, since the law’s protections cover grassroots political expression and rules that disadvantage it start to look like they’re targeting the message rather than the format.
Williamsburg’s 2025 water quality sparkles The City of Williamsburg has released its 2025 Water Quality Report, prepared by the Department of Public Works and Utilities. The report summarizes test results from the calendar year and confirms the city’s water was in compliance with all Virginia Department of Health and EPA regulations, with no violations recorded. The city’s primary water source remains Waller Mill Reservoir, a 350-acre lake holding 1.5 billion gallons that has supplied the city since 1945, supplemented during drought by groundwater and by raw water purchased from Newport News Waterworks.
The report explains that water testing and monitoring are conducted because water can pick up minerals and other substances as it moves over land or through the ground, from sources such as agricultural runoff, stormwater, septic systems and wastewater discharges. State and federal regulators set limits on the amounts of such substances allowed in public drinking water to ensure it remains safe.
Among the substances tracked, the report highlights lead, noting it can pose serious health risks, particularly to pregnant women and young children, and that it typically originates from household service lines and plumbing rather than the city’s water supply. The most recent lead and copper testing, conducted in 2023, showed an average lead level of 1.93 parts per billion, well below the federal action level of 15 ppb, with the next round of testing scheduled for 2026. Additional findings on water treatment, sodium and hardness levels, and PFAS monitoring are included in the full report, available at williamsburgva.gov/wqr.
Greater Williamsburg Sports & Events Center Grand Opening The Greater Williamsburg Sports & Events Center opens its doors June 24, with a 3:30 p.m. arrival, 4 p.m. ribbon cutting and an open house running until 8 p.m. Two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion and 2025 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame member Ali Krieger will make a special appearance, while the first 500 attendees receive a free t-shirt. The 200,000-square-foot facility, built for tournaments and community events, includes basketball, volleyball and pickleball courts plus indoor turf fields; opening-day activities include the Adventure Gym, FutureLabs, and appearances by William & Mary basketball players and local mascots.
Events for 250th celebration in Yorktown The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown marks the Fourth of July with a full day of programming: the Liberty Celebration, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., features artillery firings at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., the Great American Fourth of July Sing-Along, and a performance by the Fifes & Drums of York Town, followed by the ticketed Star-Spangled Cookout from 6 to 8:30 p.m. ($45 adults, $25 youth), which closes with an artillery salute ahead of Yorktown’s fireworks.
The celebration coincides with the July 1 opening of “Give Me Liberty: Virginia & The Forging of a Nation,” a VA250 Signature Exhibition with more than 60 artifacts centered on the Declaration of Independence. It runs alongside “Fresh Views of the American Revolution,” on view through August 31, pairing Oscar de Mejo’s 1976 Bicentennial folk art, including “The Declaration of Independence, 1776,” with contemporary works.
Auditions for Freaky Friday The Williamsburg Players are holding auditions for “Freaky Friday” run Sunday, July 5, and Monday, July 6, both at 7 p.m.; auditioners need only attend one night but must be free for every show date, Sept. 4 through 20. Hopefuls should prepare a one-minute musical selection from outside the show, bring sheet music or a track, and dress to move for a movement portion (no crocs or sandals); cold readings from the script follow. The musical, based on Mary Rodgers’ novel and the Disney films, follows a mother and daughter who swap bodies and learn to appreciate each other’s struggles.
