IMPORTANT: Copilot Chat Premium (Copilot for M365) includes data protection when you are signed in with your George Mason account. You can confirm this by checking for the green protected shield within Microsoft applications. If the shield is not visible, sign in to your Microsoft applications using your Patriot Pass credentials. When the green shield appears, Copilot searches are de-identified, and your data is protected!
Copilot Chat Premium Deployment Strategy
George Mason University is expanding access to Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium as part of a strategic, multi-wave initiative to empower faculty and staff with secure, enterprise AI capabilities that enhance productivity, streamline administrative work, and support innovation across the university.
Through this program, participants receive access to Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium, a structured 30-day Copilot Journey (waves 1 and 2 only), live and on-demand training through Evolve 365, practical workshops, and a growing community of practice designed to help users confidently integrate AI into their daily work.
Early cohorts allowed an opportunity to test the onboarding process, collect baseline and usage data, understand where users see value and where they encounter barriers, and refine the experience before distributing licenses at much greater scale. “Wave 3” is where the transition initial implementation cohorts to a much broader, role-based approach.
This role-based selection process is designed to align access with where the technology can provide the greatest value. The approach is grounded in Microsoft research, industry best practices, higher education experience, and an analysis of university roles and common work activities to identify where Copilot capabilities align with day-to-day responsibilities.
June 2026 – Pilot group of university leaders, executive support staff, and designated IT professionals. This initial phase focused on validating the deployment process, establishing baseline productivity measures, and identifying early use cases and success stories.
July 2026 – Expanded access to additional Information Technology Services staff, members of the AI Community of Practice, President’s Council, and other administrative leaders nominated by university leadership.
September/October 2026 – The university’s largest expansion of Copilot Premium, extending access to a broader population of faculty and staff through a role-based phased deployment strategy.
Start your Copilot journey here. This resource center brings together expert-led video tutorials, specialized guides, and free learning courses to help you get the most from Copilot for Microsoft 365. Discover practical use cases, learn effective prompting techniques, and explore productivity tips that will help you streamline tasks, enhance collaboration, and confidently incorporate AI into your everyday work.
Copilot in Outlook
Copilot in Teams
Effective prompting is the key to getting more useful, relevant results from Copilot. Explore the Art of Prompting resources below for practical guidance, videos, examples, and tools to help you build stronger prompts and get more from your AI interactions.
- Microsoft Copilot Prompt Gallery (must be signed in)
- Mastering Prompt Engineering Webinar Recording (Evolve 365)
- AI Community of Practice Prompt Library (coming soon!)
Key Metrics
- Respondents: 338
- Expect moderate or greater impact: 78%
- Confident using Copilot: 44%
Top Requested Copilot Features
Response by Feature:
- Summarizing or analyzing documents: 203
- Analyzing data and creating formulas in Excel: 169
- Drafting and revising emails in Outlook: 164
- Creating first drafts of documents in Word: 155
- Searching across Microsoft 365 files and content: 152
- Brainstorming ideas or project plans: 142
- Summarizing long email threads: 123
- Identifying action items from meetings: 113
Expected Productivity Impact
Responses by Impact Level
- Moderate improvement: 127
- Significant improvement: 113
- Slight improvement: 66
- Transformational improvement: 23
- No impact: 9
Preferred Adoption Support
Support preferences ranked by responses:
- Self-paced online tutorials: 246
- Quick reference guides/job aids: 241
- Prompt examples and templates: 219
- Live training sessions: 152
- Recorded webinars: 111
- Community of practice/user group: 103
- Office hours or drop-in support: 76
- One-on-one coaching: 53
Support preferences ranked by responses:
- Self-paced online tutorials: 246
- Quick reference guides/job aids: 241
- Prompt examples and templates: 219
- Live training sessions: 152
- Recorded webinars: 111
- Community of practice/user group: 103
- Office hours or drop-in support: 76
- One-on-one coaching: 53
Top Adoption Concerns
Concerns ranked by responses:
- Accuracy or hallucinations: 220
- Data privacy/security: 189
- Over-reliance on AI: 139
- Integration into workflow: 110
- Ethical considerations: 107
- Learning curve: 74
Key Takeaway
Respondents generally expect positive productivity benefits from Microsoft 365 Copilot, especially for content summarization, document creation, and data analysis. However, confidence levels remain moderate, and concerns about accuracy, privacy, and dependence on AI are prominent.