As co‑chairs of Indiana University’s AI in Higher Education planning effort, we’re proud to share that faculty and staff from all IU campuses are already exploring how artificial intelligence can elevate teaching, learning, research and operations across the institution.

From the initial AI Taskforce of the University Faculty Council to the latest planning effort for IU’s AI initiative, the deployment of new AI tools and the launch of the university’s GenAI 101 course, IU is building a strong foundation for responsible, strategic innovation.

This work is grounded in IU’s emerging Human + AI Learning Model, which prioritizes distinctly human skills, including critical thinking, ethical reasoning, empathy and communication, alongside foundational AI literacy.

At the same time, colleagues at IU and across the country continue to raise important issues concerning how generative AI is being promoted and adopted in higher education, including concerns related to academic freedom in teaching and assessment, privacy, labor impacts, environmental costs, and over‑reliance on large corporate platforms. This planning effort is intentionally designed to place those concerns at the center of IU’s work, not to move past them.

To chart a thoughtful and inclusive path forward, we need your input, especially from faculty and staff closest to teaching, advising, research practice and daily operations. Our goal is not a single, one‑size‑fits‑all “IU uses AI” directive, but a framework that clarifies where AI supports IU’s mission, where it does not, and what guardrails are necessary to protect learning, academic freedom, and trust across disciplines and campuses.

Why now?

IU recently received a $300,000 planning grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education initiative. This grant is intended to help IU chart a plan for AI adoption.

What’s happening?

The planning grant is working through four workstreams to help us create a shared, institution-wide “roadmap.” Using this roadmap, IU will apply for a second, larger implementation grant from Lilly Endowment to help carry out the findings and recommendations from the planning grant process.

Who’s leading the charge?

Faculty serving as co-chairs for the workstreams were identified based on disciplinary expertise and operational experience. In addition, over 100 faculty, staff and students from across campuses and disciplines have been participating in these workstreams. Learn more about each workstream and its faculty leadership at ai.iu.edu.

Together, these workstreams reflect the full lifecycle of teaching, learning and student support at IU.

The workstreams and co-chairs are:

• Change management: Pat Hopkins, dean of the Kelley School of Business, and Isak Nti Asare, assistant dean for undergraduate education and student affairs at the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at IU Bloomington.
• Faculty practices and assessment: Jerry Wilde, dean of the School of Education at IU East, and Maggie Gilchrist, distance learning specialist and instructional consultant at IU Bloomington.
• Student AI literacy and curriculum: Justin Hodgson, associate professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington, and Philip Goff, professor of history in the School of Liberal Arts at IU Indianapolis.
• AI-enhanced student success ecosystem: Logan Paul, senior lecturer in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering at IU Bloomington, and Matt Rust, associate vice president for student navigation and support in the Office of the Vice President for Student Success, Enrollment and Institutional Effectiveness.

How can I get involved?

Over the coming weeks, workstream members will be conducting outreach to units and governance groups across campuses. We encourage you to attend the meetings or town halls related to this initiative. Share your ideas, questions, thoughts and concerns.

You can also visit ai.iu.edu and submit feedback through the form there. Feedback is confidential and will be aggregated as the workstreams develop recommendations.

The most important decisions about AI at IU are still ahead, and they should be informed by those closest to teaching, research and daily university work. We invite you to participate and help shape a path forward that is thoughtful, human‑centered and worthy of IU’s academic mission.

Pat Hopkins, Isak Nti Asare, Jerry Wilde, Maggie Gilchrist, Justin Hodgson, Philip Goff, Logan Paul and Matt Rust are workstream co-chairs. Rahul Shrivastav, interim vice president for student success, and Anne Leftwich, professor of education at IU Bloomington and associate vice president for Learning Technologies, are co-principal investigators for the grant.