# Tom Shaver

> Tom Shaver is the founder and CEO of Ad Astra, a higher education scheduling and planning software company. A former partner in his family’s architectural and consulting firm, he has focused his career on how colleges allocate space and faculty, forecast course demand and help students access the classes required for graduation.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Ad Astra
- **Organizations:** Ad Astra, The Shaver Partnership
- **Education:** University of Kansas
- **Known for:** Founded Ad Astra and continues as its CEO., Led work on the Higher Education Scheduling Index, a database for benchmarking faculty and academic space allocation., Authored a 2004 business process patent application on scheduling inventions.

## Career timeline

- **1987** — Graduated from the University of Kansas with Phi Beta Kappa recognition; his own writing dates his work with higher education institutions to 1987.
- **Before 1996** — Partner at The Shaver Partnership, his family’s architectural and consulting practice.
- **1996** — Ad Astra launched, according to its current corporate history and leadership biography.
- **2004** — Authored a U.S. business process patent application covering academic scheduling inventions.
- **2013** — Presented on actionable data and academic operations at the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference.
- **2015** — Presented on course-demand data and resource allocation at AACRAO’s Strategic Enrollment Management Conference.
- **2018** — Published an essay about the adoption of innovation in higher education.
- **2020** — Discussed planning and academic resource allocation with New Mexico’s Legislative Finance Committee.
- **2024** — Published commentary on academic schedules as barriers to student progress in University Business.
- **2025** — Publicly set a target of enabling 90 percent of students to get advised schedules without conflicts.
- **2026** — Continued his scheduling advocacy through an op-ed with AASCU’s Terry Brown and a listed ASPIRE26 keynote.

## Achievements

- Founded Ad Astra and continues as its CEO.
- Led work on the Higher Education Scheduling Index, a database for benchmarking faculty and academic space allocation.
- Authored a 2004 business process patent application on scheduling inventions.
- Graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Kansas.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — The ASPIRE26 programme listed a keynote by Tom Shaver for October 12 in Kansas City.
- **2026-07** — AASCU highlighted an op-ed by Terry Brown and Tom Shaver on strategic course scheduling; its related initiative involves 20 regional public universities with Ad Astra as technical assistance partner.
- **2025-12** — Published an executive guide arguing for a strategic approach to academic scheduling.

## Links

- Website: https://www.aais.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-shaver-3711b92

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/tom-shaver
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-21