An AI Council is in development and coming to campus soon. Dr. Chris Domes has appointed Dr. Najiba Benabess and Dr. Richard Hartwell to co-chair the group.
Benabess is the associate provost for AI, online education and corporate partnerships and dean of the School of Business. Hartwell is CIO and vice president for institutional assessment.
According to Dr. Benabess, “The council will include one faculty representative per school, along with key partners from the Library, Student Success, eLearning, and other members that the president may appoint. The group will have a dual focus on academic and operational applications of AI.”
As generative AI grows in popularity across college campuses, students and professors are still debating how it should be used. Some see it as a helpful tool, while others worry it may undermine critical thinking.
The charge by Dr. Domes includes the council’s scope and timeline: “Identify, explore and research the most effective and mission-oriented approaches and uses of AI in higher education. Begin to collect data on how AI tools and strategies are being implemented and used in both the academic environment and in campus operations at Neumann.”
The data and information that is gathered, explains the president, will assist the AI Council in achieving the following by December 2026:
Dr. Benabess has created a four-phase framework to meet the deadline.
Phase 1: Policy Alignment and Awareness (April-May) to ensure the campus understands where the university currently stands on AI. This phase includes a review of existing AI policy and faculty surveys regarding current AI use.
Phase 2: Resource Development and Capacity Building (June-August) to equip faculty and staff to use AI effectively. Goals include building a central AI resource hub, a case repository, and faculty AI toolkit.
Phase 3: Framework and Pilot Implementation (September-November) to move from guidance to structured implementation. This phase includes the launch of the pilot phase of the campuswide AI initiative.
Phase 4: Institutionalization and Visibility (December) to showcase the high-impact signature AI project.
ChatGPT was launched in November of 2022 and has since been joined by Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, DeepSeek, and other AI programs.