Registration is now OPEN! Early bird pricing ends August 28th!
Connecticut College will host its second-annual AI and the Liberal Arts Symposium, in-person October 16-17, 2026, in New London, CT. The theme of this year’s symposium is The Paradox of AI in the Liberal Arts. Join us for this exciting opportunity to shape discussion of AI in this sector of higher education.
Artificial intelligence presents the liberal arts with a profound paradox: the same tools that threaten to replace critical thinking may also be its most powerful catalyst. Technologies that raise urgent questions about equity, labor, and human value are being adopted by the very institutions whose missions include addressing those questions. Rather than resolving this paradox, the AI and the Liberal Arts Symposium invites us to examine it from multiple angles across disciplines, with colleagues navigating the same tensions.
With our second-annual symposium, we aim to foster connections among participants from a wide range of institutions; to cultivate curiosity and growth; and to encourage critical experimentation.
The symposium sessions will engage candidly with both the promise and the potential peril of AI in liberal arts education on the following topics:
- Pedagogical Practice & The Human Element
Will explore how AI is being integrated into teaching and learning across liberal arts disciplines, from experimental classroom approaches to curriculum redesign and questions of student engagement and literacy.
- Academic Integrity and the Honor Code
Will evaluate the current state of affairs on honor code campuses. How are faculty adapting their approaches to assessing student work amid uncertainty about authorship? In what ways are students navigating inconsistent classroom policies, the easy availability of AI tools, and their own motivation to learn? What is the future of the honor code?
- Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Innovations
Will highlight work that crosses traditional boundaries between disciplines, institutions, and sectors to reimagine what becomes possible when diverse perspectives engage with AI together.
- Ethics, Equity, and Environmental Impact
Will examine the societal, cultural, and political dimensions of AI in liberal arts education, including questions of access, justice, labor, privacy, and the environmental and global consequences of AI systems.
- AI, the Liberal Arts, and the Future of Work
In a February 2026 interview with ABC News, Anthropic’s President, Daniela Amodei stated “[when hiring] we look for people who are great communicators, who have excellent EQ and people skills, who are kind and compassionate and curious and want to help other people.” This topic will explore how AI is reshaping the relationship between a liberal arts education and what graduates will need to thrive.
Travel Information
We look forward to welcoming individuals to New London, CT this fall. Find directions to campus, parking and rideshare information here. Hotel room blocks are available to reserve until Monday, September 14. Find more information on our Travel Information page.
Conference Organizers
The Connecticut College AI and the Liberal Arts Symposium is organized by members of the conference committee:
- Susan Purrington, PhD, CTRS, Harold F. Wiley Generative AI Teaching & Learning Fellow
- Jessica McCullough, Director for Research Support and Curricular Technology
- Lori Looney, Research and Data Librarian
- Bailey Rodgers, Linda Lear Special Collections Librarian
- Sharon Brouillard, Senior Assistant
- Andrea Lanoux, PhD, Professor of Slavic Studies
- Sanjeewa Karunaratne, Associate Director of Institutional Research
- Monica S Franzone, Ed. D., Associate Director of Children’s Program
