AI Task Force lays important foundation for College policies

Conversations from across higher education and the need for consistent policies on campus propelled Lisa Perfetti, College provost, to create an AI task force. Throughout the 2025-26 academic year, a group of eight faculty and staff members across various disciplines has been collaborating on three main charges. First: develop guidelines for faculty, staff, and students on a range of AI technologies, including statements on their uses, limitations, and potential harms. Second: ensure all graduates are AI-ready (prepared to meet new challenges in a world being shaped rapidly by AI technologies). Third: establish recommendations for oversight and governance across the College.

Led by Jennifer Hayward, Virginia Myers Professor of English and global media & digital studies, the group expects to have guidelines and recommendations ready by the end of spring semester 2026. They are also completing a plan for how to achieve student readiness, with implementation to follow. First, they’ll survey faculty, students, and staff to learn more about how the campus community is thinking about the role of generative AI here and survey alumni to ask how leaders in a variety of fields believe Wooster needs to be preparing graduates for the workforce.

Alex Nord, assistant professor of computer science, brings tech knowledge to his work on the AI task force. “We’re integrating AI into a sense of responsible citizenship for students,” said Nord. “Our policies will offer clarification that we want our students to be curious and proactive in their own education.”

During an AI discussion at a special faculty meeting last fall, the task force learned that their colleagues are becoming more nuanced in their approach to the technology. Hayward said the conversation has moved from an earlier concern with policing AI use to a focus on pedagogical shifts that more effectively promote learning and assess knowledge. In one of her own classes, Hayward shifted to in-class writing assignments rather than asking students to submit “perfect” papers.

“Students who don’t feel equipped for an assignment will turn to AI,” said Hayward. “At this stage we want them to use writing as a tool for working through thought processes. Because of our small classes, I can work with them individually to discuss their challenges, and I’m finding it’s been much more productive.” Regardless of discipline, students’ need for a strong knowledge base in their field is necessary to  make the most of AI. Critical thinking skills are equally important to assess the reliability of AI outputs. The task force knows every discipline has unique preferences and objections around the technology, which will apply to student I.S. work. That’s why the group doesn’t plan on formulating any I.S.-specific guidelines campuswide. “Many departments are already creating their own AI guidelines for I.S., so the task force sees itself building on that existing expertise to facilitate more transparency and clearer communication,” said Hayward.

A possible model for that communication is the AI Literacy Guidebook, a digital resource created by students in Hayward’s Writing for AI class last spring. Their proof of concept demonstrated what the students would like tosee available to the entire campus. For instance, faculty might find direction for incorporating AI in their curriculum and fostering responsible use, while students might get best practices for using AI ethically or developing AI literacy.

A guidebook could also house case studies on ethical challenges with solutions across various disciplines. “A critical part of preparing students for the possibility of an AI-saturated world will involve providing them with concrete information about the environmental costs
incurred by data centers,” said Nord. “Students also need the skills required to interrogate the political, social, and profit interests of the groups charged with developing the ‘guardrails’ for information produced by AI systems.”

Featured image: AI taskforce hopes to prepare graduates in AI skills, while continuing to develop their writing and research skills.

This story originally appeared in the spring 2026 issue of Wooster magazine.

Posted in Magazine, News on March 9, 2026.