As AI Raises Questions About the Value of College, Former Oklahoma Business Dean Launches The Nehemiah Blueprint

Dr. Daryl D. Green calls on higher education leaders to rebuild for an AI-shaped economy without abandoning the human relationships that help students succeed.
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OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma - August 18, 2026 - Behind every headline about artificial intelligence and the future of work is a student wondering whether the degree they are working toward will still mean something by graduation. That is the question educator, researcher, entrepreneur, and former Langston University School of Business Dean Dr. Daryl D. Green believes higher education must answer honestly: Does the degree, as currently built, still hold its value in an economy being reshaped by artificial intelligence?

The question has become more urgent. Axios reported on Aug. 15 that 69% of U.S. higher-education students worry AI will make it harder to find a job. Gallup reported on July 13 that 46% of Americans think wider AI use will make college degrees less important over the next five years, compared with 20% who think degrees will become more important.

Green argues the answer is not to retreat from higher education, but to rebuild it around adaptability, human judgment, workforce readiness, and relationships machines cannot replace. He has launched The Nehemiah Blueprint, a leadership initiative designed to help college and university presidents, provosts, trustees, and deans - alongside entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and communities - think differently about rebuilding in the Age of AI.

Green's credibility for this work is grounded in practice. When he became dean of the Langston University School of Business in January 2024, enrollment had fallen to roughly 270 students and accreditation concerns were unresolved. Two years later, enrollment had grown past 416 students, a 54 percent increase, and the program moved from unranked to No. 39 among 89 HBCU business schools nationally, with top 1 percent performance on the Peregrine Business Exam.

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Caption: Dr. Green speaks at Cape Peninsula University of Technology about upcoming disruptions and how to better prepare today's college students.

"For years, my work focused on preparing business students to succeed in their careers," said Green. "Today, my mission is bigger. I want to help the presidents and provosts who lead our institutions ask the harder question: Are we preparing students for the economy that exists, or the one that already disappeared?"

Higher education now faces enrollment volatility and declining confidence in the value of a degree. "That deserves a serious, hopeful answer," Green said, "not just another task force."

Green believes the answer starts with rebuilding, not merely reacting. "We are planting a garden, not building a nuclear plant," he often tells his team. "Entrepreneurs do not wait for permission to innovate. Neither should our institutions."

The Nehemiah Blueprint is built on a simple conviction: People rebuild the future, not machines.

"I have spent my career watching a student walk into a classroom unsure of their place in the world and walk out ready to lead," Green reflected. "That transformation is not something a machine can replicate. It takes a mentor, a mother's sacrifice, a professor who believed in someone before they believed in themselves."

The Age of AI, Green says, is a leadership story about whether institutions will find the courage to rebuild before they are forced to. The Nehemiah Blueprint offers practical, hopeful thinking on institutional strategy, workforce readiness, human judgment, and human dignity.

Join the Conversation

The public is invited to follow Dr. Green's work at www.darylgreen.org, connect with him on LinkedIn, and subscribe to The Nehemiah Blueprint on Substack: https://substack.com/@nuleadership. Dr. Green is available for interviews and conversations with higher education, business, nonprofit, faith, and community leaders.

About Dr. Daryl D. Green

Dr. Daryl D. Green is an educator, researcher, author, entrepreneur, and former Dean of the School of Business at Langston University, an HBCU. He is the author of The Dean's Devotional: 21 Proverbs for Academic Leadership, with proceeds supporting student scholarships at Langston University.

For additional information send an email via advice@darylgreen.org [mailto:advice@darylgreen.org]

Follow on LinkedIn: Dr. Daryl D. Green

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