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Faculty ‘will determine if, how, and when students should use AI in their courses,’ president says
Thomas College in Maine has received a $3 million federal grant to integrate artificial intelligence into its academic programs, including hiring an AI specialist and providing faculty training.
The private college in Waterville recently announced the grant, called “Building the College of the Future: Integrating Artificial Intelligence Across the Curriculum,” from the U.S. Department of Education’s Title III Strengthening Institutions Program.
The multi-year initiative aims to prepare students to use AI technology in their future careers, ensuring that they develop “practical, critical, and ethical AI literacy,” according to the school’s news release.
The grant will also fund professional development, curriculum revisions, software subscriptions, and a laboratory where students can gain hands-on experience with AI tools in applied science fields.
In comments to The College Fix, Thomas College President Jeannine Uzzi said that the college plans to hire an AI Specialist in Residence who will work full-time for two years to help professors understand how AI is changing their respective fields.
The specialist will support faculty across all academic disciplines, including fields such as English, biology, and business, as professors consider how the technology may affect their students’ future professions.
“If a faculty member earned a PhD in English or biology ten years ago, for instance, they were not learning about how AI would impact publishing, journalism, or medical research,” President Uzzi told The Fix.
Despite plans to integrate AI across the curriculum, the college said individual professors will determine whether students are required to use the technology in their coursework.
“The curriculum is the domain of the faculty because they are the experts in their disciplines,” President Uzzi said.
“Once our faculty members are trained in the use and impact of AI in their fields, they will determine if, how, and when students should use AI in their courses,” she said.
Uzzi also addressed concerns surrounding academic integrity, student privacy, and students becoming overly dependent on artificial intelligence.
Comparing AI to earlier technological developments such as Google, Wikipedia, and smartphones, she said colleges must adapt their teaching methods rather than attempt to prohibit the technology.
“One thing that is clear to me is that anyone fighting against AI is probably in a losing battle,” Uzzi said.
Instead of legislating against AI use, faculty and administrators need to learn more about AI, teach students about the risks and proper uses, and ensure that students cite their use of AI, she said.
She clarified that integrating AI into classrooms does not necessarily mean students will learn more effectively.
“We cannot assume AI will improve student learning. AI was not designed for that purpose, so that is not something we will assess,” President Uzzi told The Fix.
Instead, the college plans to evaluate whether students understand how to use AI tools appropriately and responsibly.
President Uzzi said Thomas College currently has a 99 percent job placement rate for graduates and expects to maintain that success as employers increasingly incorporate AI into their operations.
Employers in accounting, banking, healthcare, software development, and wealth management are already using AI, she told The Fix.
She also discussed the initiative in an October statement, emphasizing that students must understand both the opportunities and limitations of artificial intelligence.
Uzzi said the initiative is intended to prepare graduates for an evolving workforce while encouraging them to recognize when human judgment should take precedence over AI-generated information.
The grant comes amid a widespread debate over whether universities should ban or encourage AI use.
Social science Core classes at the University of Chicago and the University of California Berkeley School of Law, for example, have banned AI use for coursework.
However, some faculty argue that students will use AI regardless, and the policy only puts students who follow the rules at a disadvantage.
