“Cornelius,” a new chatbot designed to support undergraduate students at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln will launch in November. Cornelius will proactively conduct outreach to students and offer 24/7 assistance to support student retention and degree completion.
Cornelius will use conversational AI to engage and support students, primarily about their college experience across four categories: academic, financial, belonging and well-being. Cornelius will contact students roughly every 10 days to keep them informed of resources and help them stay connected on campus.
The chatbot is a collaborative initiative between Undergraduate Education and Student Success and the Division of Student Life. All degree-seeking undergraduates will have access to Cornelius and are encouraged to save the chatbot number on their phone, respond to its check-ins, and text it when they have university-related questions.
“Cornelius will provide an additional layer of personalized, point-in-time support to undergraduates” said Amy Goodburn, senior associate vice chancellor and dean of undergraduate education. “On the back end, the chatbot analytics will enable us to identify and address institutional barriers to further enhance our students’ campus experiences.”
According to data from more than 100 higher education partners using the vendor tool that supports Cornelius, on average, 98% of students remain opted-in to receive the messages, and 64% of students actively engage with the chatbot.
Cornelius will send its first message to students on Nov. 3. Events and giveaways will be held across campus Nov. 3-7 to promote the launch and use of Cornelius.
Learn more about Cornelius.
Campus units that would like a brief overview of Cornelius can request a 10-minute presentation from Lydia Coulson, communications specialist.
