California Lutheran University has received the Tambellini Future Campus Award for its AI-driven chatbot, “Ask Gumby.” The award was presented at the Future Campus Summit in New York City on August 5-6. The event recognizes institutions that are using technology to improve higher education.
The university’s Information Technology team developed “Ask Gumby” through a campus-wide collaboration and in-house software development. The program is designed to help students, faculty, staff, and administrators by integrating with Cal Lutheran’s enterprise resource planning system, student information system, and learning management system via the MyCLU Digital Experience Platform.
Cal Lutheran’s IT department won in the category of “Impact on Learning Outcomes and Experience.” Tambellini analysts highlighted the scalability and potential long-term benefits of “Ask Gumby,” as well as efforts to enhance learning outcomes for students.
“This project is about more than introducing new technology,” said Zareh Marselian, chief information officer at Cal Lutheran. “It is about removing barriers for our students, faculty and staff so they can focus on learning, teaching and collaboration;, with a goal of what I call a frictionless user experience. By integrating informer AI assistants into our digital experience platform, we are creating a personalized experience that provides proactive, timely and actionable information to our constituents.”
The chatbot’s name comes from “The Enormous Luther,” a statue on campus nicknamed by students. A beta version was launched on April 11 for faculty and staff. The IT team has continued refining the tool through ongoing work with campus groups.
This fall, the program will be available across campus. Planned features include AI tools for generating student-worker schedules—which aims to save staff significant time—AI tutors using Socratic methods for student guidance, and instructor assistants that analyze conversations to recommend course content adjustments based on data from institutional sources.
Cal Lutheran anticipates that “Ask Gumby” will lead to measurable improvements in operational effectiveness as well as gains in enrollment, retention rates, student support services, and academic results. The university also sees this initiative as key to ensuring students develop skills related to AI literacy such as technical fluency, critical thinking, and ethical awareness—preparing them for an increasingly technology-focused world.
Data governance played an important role during development; the chatbot follows institutional policies while protecting intellectual property rights and aligning with privacy standards.
Development included a partnership with Entrinsik—a global software company providing modern solutions. The Future Campus Award grew out of the Tambellini Technology Leadership Awards established in 2015 to recognize achievements among higher education IT leaders.
