Dr. Mary Papazian has spent more than 35 years in higher education, serving as a professor, university president, and national leader in advancing student success and innovation. Now, as CodeSignal’s Senior Advisor for Education, she’s helping strengthen the connection between learning and opportunity.
In this Q&A, Mary shares her perspective on AI, skills-based education, and how institutions can better prepare students for the future of work.
What made you want to join CodeSignal as a senior advisor for Education?
Over my 35 years in higher education as a faculty member and higher education leader, most recently as president of San José State University, I’ve seen how profoundly the world of work is changing and expectations of graduates by employers continue to evolve. Given the rapidity of change that surrounds us, the models that have long guided educational institutions are no longer sufficient to prepare students for the opportunities ahead.
At the same time, I believe the core purpose of education endures: to empower people to lead meaningful lives and contribute to society. Preparing students for careers and educating them for civic engagement are complementary, not competing goals.
CodeSignal’s mission resonates with me because it recognizes this essential connection. By focusing on skills and creating clearer pathways between college and career, especially for underrepresented students, CodeSignal is expanding access to opportunity in a way that supports
the transformative power of education.
Joining CodeSignal as a Senior Education Advisor will allow me to advance an approach to career preparation I have come to appreciate, one that is integrated with the core values of higher education. In this role, I look forward to helping shape partnerships that serve the whole student and prepare students for the changing nature of work in the twenty-first century.
How do you see AI helping education? On the other hand, how could AI hurt education?
AI has immense potential to enhance learning and expand access. Personalized learning systems can adapt to each student’s needs, and AI-driven assessments can provide real-time insights to support student progress. Additionally, AI, when used thoughtfully, can enable educators to focus on high-impact activities like mentoring, research, and problem-based learning.
However, the use of AI in education also carries risks, particularly if students use AI as a replacement for learning and critical thinking rather than as a tool to augment their work. Also, uneven access to the responsible use of AI could widen the disparities that already exist in our educational institutions, and the use of AI without appropriate guidelines can reduce human interaction, compromise privacy, and reinforce existing biases.
To harness AI’s benefits while mitigating risks, educators must be proactive and take time to understand how they can best integrate AI into their approach. The goal should be leveraging AI to amplify human capabilities, providing students the tools to think critically while opening up new avenues of innovation and investigation. When used responsibly, AI can help all students develop the knowledge, skills and capacities to thrive.
“When used responsibly, AI can help all students develop the knowledge, skills, and capacities to thrive.”
Dr. Mary Papazian, Senior Education Advisor for CodeSignal
Former President of San José State University
What do today’s students need most to be ready for the workforce?
In a rapidly changing world, students need a multifaceted, broad education that prepares them for a lifetime of learning and contribution. We like to say that the most important skill a student can learn is how to learn new things. With the rapidity of change in the workplace and in society writ large, learning doesn’t stop after graduation. Those employees who continuously seek to learn will develop the agility needed to thrive in a period of change and disruption.
Certainly, students need adaptable skills aligned to the digital economy. But even more critically, they need enduring human capacities, the foundational or durable skills, to think critically, collaborate, create, and learn continually. These competencies, honed through broad-based study and application, are key to navigating complexity.
Alongside knowledge and skills, students need experience translating their education into impact. Internships, project-based learning, and entrepreneurship opportunities provide students the ability to develop not just their skills and knowledge, but also the ability to draw on those skills to effect change and create impact.
Ultimately, the most valuable education empowers students to live purposefully and shape a better future. Career preparation and education for life are inseparable.
Which human skills matter most as they enter an AI-powered workplace?
In an AI-driven world, distinctly human capabilities are essential complements to technical skills. Vital human capacities include:
- Critical thinking and sound judgment
- Creative problem-solving
- Emotional intelligence and empathy
- Effective communication
- Collaboration and team-building
- Adaptability and love of learning
- Ethical reasoning and integrity
These enduring strengths, cultivated through multidisciplinary learning and application, empower students to harness technology wisely and shape progress in a way that has a positive impact on our society.
Even as technical skills evolve and change, these human capabilities remain evergreen. They form the foundation not just for career success, but for personal growth and meaningful contribution. An education nurturing both technical prowess and human potential is the path to a thriving future.
What’s one thing you wish universities did differently?
I often encourage universities to recognize career preparation as integral to a comprehensive education, not at odds with it. The dichotomy between learning for career and learning for life harms students, especially those historically underserved. All students deserve an education equipping them for meaningful work and societal contribution.
This means weaving career exploration and skills-based learning throughout the curriculum. It means creating permeable boundaries between classroom and community through experiential learning. And it means providing robust support to help all students translate their education into purposeful lives. It also means appreciating the role all disciplines play in our world and in our society, rather than privileging those fields that lead directly to a specific job.
Approached this way, career preparation is a vehicle for expanding opportunity and empowering students to build a better world, to think about how they might contribute to solving some of our most vexing problems. Ultimately, such an approach enhances education’s transformative potential. Universities embracing this will set students up for lifelong success.
What gives you hope about the future of learning?
Throughout history, education has been the engine driving transformation and opportunity. I’m deeply hopeful in education’s ability to continue to transform lives, because of the growing recognition that learning is a lifelong endeavor. Across society, there is a groundswell of innovation and commitment to make education more accessible, relevant, and empowering at every life stage.
Exciting developments include flexible, learner-centered models; competency-based programs; stackable credentials providing on- and off-ramps between learning and work; education-industry partnerships; emphasis on holistic student supports; and recognition of both STEM and the arts/human/social sciences in developing adaptable leaders.
Central to these shifts is a vision of learning as continual growth in service of individual and societal flourishing. Creating more pathways for all people to access transformative learning throughout life builds a future of expanded opportunity and shared prosperity.
How do you think CodeSignal can positively impact higher education? Where do you see the company in 5 years?
I see CodeSignal positively impacting education and advancing equity and alignment between learning, skills development, and the evolving tech workforce and the workforce more broadly.
Validated assessments of job-relevant skills can level the playing field for students to demonstrate capabilities. Learners gain guideposts for skill development, while data surfaces insights for growth.
For universities, CodeSignal generates actionable data to strengthen curricula and support. A common framework for assessing and communicating job-relevant skills fosters education-industry collaboration, creating better bridges between college and career outcomes for students. In five years, CodeSignal could be an essential platform connecting classrooms to careers.
Educational institutions could leverage CodeSignal’s platform to assess learning, identify needs, and provide targeted practice. Employers could look beyond elite institutions to be assured they are hiring quality employees with the necessary skills to be successful, and students will be better able to demonstrate their capabilities and discover new opportunities.
CodeSignal can advance this in a way supporting holistic education. By focusing on validated skills and partnering with universities, CodeSignal enables an integrated approach to career preparation that expands access to meaningful work and amplifies education’s positive impact.
For over 35 years, Mary has worked to educate students broadly and advance equity, innovation, and opportunity through higher education. Most recently, she served as executive vice president of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, and as president of San José State University and Southern Connecticut State University, leading both campuses with a strong focus on community and industry partnerships and student success.
Mary holds a Ph.D. in English literature from UCLA, where she focused on Renaissance literature. The humanities instilled in her a belief in human potential and education’s power to nurture it, as well as an understanding of the important role the liberal arts play in ensuring we are educating for a human-centered world.
As a professor and leader, Mary has been deeply engaged in integrating career preparation with broad-based education. She believes aligning workforce needs with the learning of tomorrow is both a great challenge and a powerful opportunity.
At CodeSignal, Mary’s excited to continue expanding pathways to purpose and possibility through education-industry partnership and to think about new ways to set students up for success and ensure opportunity remains available to all.