AI at UMass Dartmouth

UMass Dartmouth is committed to ensuring our students are AI-ready and prepared to use this powerful technology responsibly and ethically in their professional futures. Under the leadership of Provost Ramprasad Balasubramanian, UMass Dartmouth is positioning our graduates for success in an AI-influenced world by fostering AI literacy, fluency, and competency, ensuring they understand what AI is, how it works, and how to leverage it as a partner in the human creative process within their chosen disciplines.

AI Task Force

In Fall 2025, Provost Balasubramanian created an AI Taskforce and charged it with assessing current AI teaching and learning practices on campus; recommending supports for faculty and staff who are learning to use and teach about AI; proposing an undergraduate curriculum to prepare AI-ready graduates for the workforce; and suggesting integration and assessment plans for that curriculum.
The AI Task Force worked throughout the Spring 2026 semester and issued a report that was presented to campus in September. More information about the work of the committee can be found in its report to the Provost.

AI Curricular Innovation Grants

To support the integration of AI into the UMass Dartmouth curriculum, the Office of the Provost has created Curricular Integration of AI Skills and Literacy Grants, a new initiative supporting faculty who are integrating artificial intelligence into teaching and learning across the university. These competitive awards support faculty as they redesign existing courses or develop new offerings that advance students’ AI literacy, ethical reasoning, and discipline-specific application skills.

2027 Call
Curricular Integration of AI Literacy and Skills

Overview

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape the academic and workforce landscapes, UMass Dartmouth is committed to preparing students to navigate this new reality with ethical awareness, critical thinking, and practical skills.

We invite faculty from all academic councils to propose a course revision or a new course that meaningfully accomplishes one or more of the following student learning outcomes/goals (SLOs).

AI goals and outcomes

Foundations of AI - Goal: Build conceptual understanding of what AI is, how it functions, and where it appears in daily life.
Capabilities, Limitations, and Critical Evaluation - Goal: Help learners critically engage with AI outputs and recognize when to trust or question them.
Ethical and Responsible Use - Goal: Develop ethical judgment, integrity, and respect for intellectual property when using AI
Social, Cultural, and Emotional Dimensions of AI - Goal: Foster reflection on the human impacts of AI and automation.
Prompting and Interaction Skills - Goal: Equip students with strategies to communicate effectively with AI tools.
AI as a Collaborative Partner in Learning and Creativity - Goal: Encourage students to use AI to support—not replace—human creativity, reasoning, and dialogue.
Disciplinary and Professional Applications - Goal: Connect AI literacy to academic fields and future careers.

Eligible activities

Full-time faculty may propose to:

Revise an existing course by incorporating assignments, modules, or assessments aligned with one or more AI SLOs.
Develop a new course—undergraduate or graduate—focusing on AI literacy, application, ethics, or interdisciplinary use of AI tools.
Collaborate across departments or colleges to create interdisciplinary offerings that address AI from multiple perspectives.

Funding and support

Selected proposals will receive:

A $1500 stipend for course revision or development, or $3,000 in professional development funding (to be used according to ACA-027).
Instructional design consultation from the Instructional Design Team and access to AI pedagogy resources from the Office of Faculty Development.
Opportunities to participate in faculty learning communities on teaching with AI.

Proposal requirements (2 pages max)

Please include:

Course information: Course title, number (if applicable), and department.
Type of project: New course or course revision.
Target audience: Intended student population and level.
Learning outcomes addressed: Clearly state which AI SLO(s) will be integrated.
Description of changes: Outline how AI-related content will be incorporated, including specific assignments, technologies, or pedagogical approaches.
Timeline for implementation: Indicate when changes will be piloted (Spring 2026 or Fall 2027).
Assessment plan: Briefly describe how student achievement of the AI outcomes will be evaluated.
Proposals that will reach the most students, meet multiple AI SLOs, are sustainable and offer the course in the Spring 2027 semester will receive the highest consideration. For this reason, a memo or email from the department Chairpersons and respective deans in support of the proposal should accompany it. We are expecting to fund faculty from all academic councils.
Significant course revisions and new courses require approval by the departmental curriculum committee. Additionally, a proposal submission on Curriculum may be required.