Connecticut College AI and the Liberal Arts Symposium: Full Schedule

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1:00pm EDT

AI Is Not Transforming Education—We Are Using It to Preserve It

Friday October 16, 2026 1:00pm - 1:10pm EDT

Artificial intelligence is widely framed as a transformative force in higher education, yet this assumption overlooks a persistent historical pattern: technology alone rarely produces meaningful change. Drawing on research examining how curricular ideology and pedagogical beliefs shape technology adoption, this presentation argues that institutions do not adapt to technology—technology is adapted to fit existing beliefs. Despite decades of innovation, higher education remains largely lecture-centered, with new tools reinforcing rather than disrupting established practices.AI is already following this trajectory. Its use varies not by capability, but by underlying assumptions about teaching, knowledge, and authority. This talk reframes AI not as a disruptive force, but as a mirror of institutional values. Meaningful transformation, therefore, depends less on technological advancement and more on confronting the ideological foundations of education.

Speakers

Chris Bernard

Chief Information Security Officer, The Jackson Laboratory

Friday October 16, 2026 1:00pm - 1:10pm EDT
Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Lightning, Pedagogical Practice & The Human Element

Company The Jackson Laboratory

1:00pm EDT

Lightning Talks - AI Literacy and What Students Learn

Friday October 16, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT

Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

This session includes the following four talks:
10 minutes each with 20 minutes of Q&A for the group
1. AI Is Not Transforming Education—We Are Using It to Preserve It
Chris Bernard | The Jackson Laboratory
2. Critical from the Start: A Coordinated AI Literacy Model for the First-Year Liberal Arts Seminar
Sarah Lohnes Watulak & Dr. Amy Collier | Middlebury College
3. What Should Students Learn? Navigating the Paradox of AI in Liberal Arts Education
Javkhlan Batsaikhan* | Amherst College

Friday October 16, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Lightning

1:10pm EDT

Critical from the Start: A Coordinated AI Literacy Model for the First-Year Liberal Arts Seminar

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 1:20pm EDT

Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

First-year students arrive at liberal arts institutions at the precise moment they are forming their intellectual and ethical identities as scholars, and they arrive already using AI. At Middlebury College, we designed a coordinated, multi-modal approach to help students critically engage with AI within that formative context. Our model centers on GenAI @ Middlebury, a short asynchronous Canvas course, paired with custom in-class workshops co-developed with First-Year Seminar (FYS) faculty, and peer support for students. Together, these resources equip students to analyze AI's role in their learning - to shortcut or support - while giving faculty the knowledge and confidence to facilitate meaningful classroom conversations. In its first year (AY 2025–2026), 250 people engaged with the Canvas course and we partnered with 11 FYS faculty to build tailored workshops for their courses. This lightning talk outlines our development process, faculty partnership strategy, and preliminary student outcome data.

Speakers

Amy Collier

Associate Provost for Digital Learning, Middlebury

Sarah Lohnes Watulak

Director of Digital Pedagogy and Media, Middlebury College

Friday October 16, 2026 1:10pm - 1:20pm EDT
Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Lightning, Pedagogical Practice & The Human Element

Company Middlebury College

1:30pm EDT

What Should Students Learn? Navigating the Paradox of AI in Liberal Arts Education

Friday October 16, 2026 1:30pm - 1:40pm EDT

Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

What should students learn when the skills cultivated through higher education increasingly intersect with technologies capable of performing some of those same tasks? Students find themselves at the center of a paradox. Liberal arts institutions continue to emphasize critical thinking, communication, writing, ethical reasoning, creativity, and problem-solving, while employers increasingly seek graduates who can work effectively with AI.Drawing on conversations with over fifty Amherst College students during planning for a student-led AI Summit, this presentation explores how students are making sense of these expectations. Many recognize AI as important yet remain uncertain about what AI literacy and fluency mean in practice, as well as how AI should be integrated into learning.Rather than resolving the paradox of AI, this presentation explores how liberal arts education can use this moment to rethink learning for a future in which human and artificial intelligence work together to communicate, collaborate, and create effectively.

Speakers

Javkhlan Batsaikhan

Student, Amherst College

I’m Javkhlan Batsaikhan; please call me Jay. I’m an undergraduate student studying Psychology and Education Studies at Amherst College, with interests in AI, higher education, student learning, and the future of work. At the symposium, I’ll present “What Should Students Learn... Read More →

Friday October 16, 2026 1:30pm - 1:40pm EDT
Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Lightning, AI, the Liberal Arts, and the Future of Work

Company Amherst College

3:25pm EDT

From Initiative to Institutional Collaborative

Friday October 16, 2026 3:25pm - 3:35pm EDT

Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Like many small liberal arts colleges, we at Davidson College set out in the spring of 2024 to explore generative AI and its impacts on teaching and learning for our campus. Our initial approaches were thoughtful, intentional, and ultimately inadequate due in large part to the perennial challenges of communication and coordination. Fast-forwarding to this spring (2026), we have embarked upon a more inclusive, more institutional model — the Davidson AI Collaborative — with the goal of honoring domain specificity across campus while staying connected vis-à-vis our approaches to generative AI. My lightning talk will offer a brief recap of our journey, connect our past to our present, and, most importantly, offer arguments as to how the Collaborative’s model thoughtfully and intentionally addresses our challenges, even as it, too, may not be permanent. (And why that is okay.)

Speakers

Jacob Heil

AD of Instruction, Research, & Digital Scholarship, Davidson College

Friday October 16, 2026 3:25pm - 3:35pm EDT
Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Lightning, Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Innovations

Company Davidson College

3:25pm EDT

Lightning Talks - Institutional Programs and Equity

Friday October 16, 2026 3:25pm - 4:25pm EDT

Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

This session includes the following four talks:
10 minutes each with 20 minutes of Q&A for the group
1. From Initiative to Institutional Collaborative
Jacob Heil | Davidson College
2. Developing an “AI and the Liberal Arts” Academic Certificate
Willie Wilson | Franklin & Marshall College
3. AI and the Digital Divide: A New Era of Educational Inequity
Atousa Kaviani* | Binghamton University
4. The Other Side of the Desk: Student Perceptions of Faculty AI Use in the Liberal Arts
Lauren Howard & Willie Wilson | Franklin & Marshall College

Friday October 16, 2026 3:25pm - 4:25pm EDT
Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Lightning

3:35pm EDT

Developing an “AI and the Liberal Arts” Academic Certificate

Friday October 16, 2026 3:35pm - 3:45pm EDT

Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Students and parents are increasingly eager for academic validation of AI proficiency that will be viable in the modern marketplace. As a liberal arts institution, our objective is to cultivate competencies that transcend technical utility, fostering a holistic framework for engaging with these technologies. To equip students with both technical foundations and the capacity to critically evaluate ethical, social, and cultural impacts, we have established the "AI and the Liberal Arts" certificate. This certificate is structured as an interdisciplinary program comprising 4 courses or learning experiences. By design, it requires fewer credits than a minor and intentionally integrates perspectives from multiple academic disciplines. Most importantly, the program emphasizes a liberal arts approach that leverages critical thinking, synthesizes diverse perspectives, and looks beyond the technological surface to build something truly important. It prepares our students to pose the challenging, timely, and vital questions necessary for success in this new era.

Speakers

Willie Wilson

Associate Professor of Computer Science, Franklin & Marshall College

I am trying to guide our campus in ethical AI practices. I have been working with students, faculty, and staff to educate them on AI, its strengths, and its weaknesses. I'm also listening to their concerns and how they would like to use AI.

Students, faculty, staff, and administration all have different needs and objectives. Also, faculty from STEM and humanities usually have vastly different experiences with AI and are taking very different approaches. I'm looking to talk with people about how to get people on the same... Read More →

Friday October 16, 2026 3:35pm - 3:45pm EDT
Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Lightning, AI, the Liberal Arts, and the Future of Work

Company Franklin & Marshall College

3:45pm EDT

AI and the Digital Divide: A New Era of Educational Inequity

Friday October 16, 2026 3:45pm - 3:55pm EDT

Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Since the rise of AI in recent years has become an unavoidable issue in educational systems, its widespread use and accessibility need to be studied. Before addressing the complex question of whether using AI for writing assignments in the classroom is ethical, as well as questions of authorship, there is another issue that remains understudied. The digital divide and inaccessibility of free and reliable internet connections continue to be factors of discrimination across many communities and countries.Unstable, unreliable, and unaffordable internet access raises another important question that this presentation seeks to address: how accessible is AI in the Global South, and what impact will this have on educational equity? By showcasing three months of digital blackout and internet censorship in Iran and examining their effects on the educational system, this paper explores the relationship between the digital divide and AI within the global educational environment.

Speakers

Atousa Kaviani

Friday October 16, 2026 3:45pm - 3:55pm EDT
Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Lightning, Ethics, Equity, and Environmental Impact

Company Binghamton University

3:55pm EDT

The Other Side of the Desk: Student Perceptions of Faculty AI Use in the Liberal Arts

Friday October 16, 2026 3:55pm - 4:05pm EDT

Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

While considerable research has examined how students use generative AI, and how faculty feel about that use, no study to date has reversed the lens. This mixed-methods campus survey of ~400 liberal arts students and 100 faculty investigates how these populations perceive and evaluate each others' AI practices. Our findings reveal striking convergences and divergences. Students and faculty share similar fears (cognitive offloading, accuracy, environmental impact) and similar hopes (more training, experience, and institutional guidance). Yet students express significant dissatisfaction with specific faculty practices. For example, students are particularly against using AI to generate letters of recommendation, significant course content, and grading of written work, despite some faculty reports of using AI to do these tasks. These findings raise urgent questions about the ethical standards we apply to ourselves versus others. We discuss implications for institutional policy, pedagogical transparency, and the equitable development of AI norms in the liberal arts.

Speakers

Lauren Howard

Willie Wilson

Associate Professor of Computer Science, Franklin & Marshall College

Friday October 16, 2026 3:55pm - 4:05pm EDT
Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Lightning, Ethics, Equity, and Environmental Impact

Company Franklin & Marshall College

1:00pm EDT

1:00pm EDT

1:10pm EDT

1:30pm EDT

3:25pm EDT

3:25pm EDT

3:35pm EDT

3:45pm EDT

3:55pm EDT

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