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How UVA is Scaling Airtable Across the University — A Fireside Chat You Won’t Want to Miss

  • January 12, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 305 views
MloganAirtable
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I may be personally biased as the emcee for this session… but I genuinely think this is going to be one of the best EDU User Group conversations of the year.

We’re sitting down with Johann and Jack from the University of Virginia (UVA) for a candid fireside chat on how they’ve rapidly and thoughtfully scaled Airtable across a large, complex institution. Jack, formerly a Smartsheet power user turned Airtable extraordinaire, will share what actually worked (and what didn’t), from licensing everyone and managing access, to building trust-driven governance without a top-down mandate.

We’ll dig into how UVA runs a community-led Center of Excellence, uses peer collaboration to share use cases, and balances tight governance with real autonomy. Expect practical examples, honest tool comparisons, a bit of technical depth, and plenty of time for your questions.

We’ll also make it interactive with live polls and concrete takeaways you can bring back to your own campus.

👉 Join us on January 29th (2PM - 3PM ET)
https://airtableevents.com/eduusergroup-uva-01-2026

If you’re thinking about scaling Airtable in higher ed—or already in the thick of it—I’d love to see you there.

    3 replies

    MaddieJ
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    • MaddieJCommunity Manager
    • Community Manager
    • January 12, 2026

    So excited for this one!

    Rob_Weidner1
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    • Rob_Weidner1
    • Participating Frequently
    • January 16, 2026

    So many archaic tools are being used in the education space, and Airtable is a major unlock potential for creating custom, nuanced applications at scale. This is going to be a great discussion and one not to be missed!  Thanks for organizing ​@MloganAirtable 

    AI workflow strategy • Builder enablement • Turning experimentation into confident systems robweidner.com
      MaddieJ
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      • MaddieJCommunity Manager
      • Community Manager
      • January 29, 2026

      Thanks to everyone who joined our event today! We had a fantastic session diving into how UVA is scaling Airtable across their university, with plenty of real-world insights, technical tips, and governance strategies. Here are the top takeaways:

      3 Key Takeaways 👀

      • Building for Scale Requires Governance: UVA’s success with Airtable is rooted in a thoughtful governance model that balances local autonomy with centralized oversight. They established service owners, a Center of Excellence, and a Governance Council, ensuring both flexibility and security as the platform grows across schools and departments. This structure helps prevent tool sprawl and supports sustainable adoption.
      • Technical Implementation Matters: The team shared how they leveraged Airtable to build robust applications, like a curriculum planning app, and highlighted the importance of technical decisions around user provisioning, licensing, and security. 
      • Community and Change Management Drive Adoption: UVA’s approach is highly collaborative, focusing on building a community of practice, offering open office hours, and supporting citizen developers. They found that showcasing real solutions (not just the platform) and engaging users in the process led to strong adoption and positive feedback.


      3 Additional Resources for Further Learning 📚

      • See attached slides from today’s event, and the recording below.
      • Airtable Academy: Hands-on training and certification pathways for builders and admins, with targeted lessons for every skill level.
      • Airtable Help Docs: Comprehensive documentation, including API guides and best practices for technical implementation and governance.

       

       

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