LATROBE, PA – Saint Vincent College in January announced the appointment of five AI Literacy Integration Fellows from disciplines within the institution’s School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS).
The AI Literacy Integration Fellows are Mallory Truckenmiller Saylor, C’19 (director of the Saint Vincent College Writing Center and adjunct professor), Dr. Yara Acaf (assistant professor of communication and media studies), Dr. Juan-Carlos Rivas (associate professor of Spanish), Dr. Emily Arledge, C’15 (assistant professor of history) and Dr. Christopher McMahon (professor of theology).
Each fellow is using release time during the spring semester to advance AI literacy activities to ensure that students develop critical competencies in understanding, evaluating and ethically applying artificial intelligence tools relevant to their fields of study.
“AI tools present both opportunities and challenges in higher education. While AI tools can generate answers to questions with remarkable speed, we know that deep learning requires time, effort and struggle,” said Dr. Elaine Bennett, AHSS dean. “Our faculty fellows will explore how to preserve that essential challenge for our students, at the same time ensuring that they know how to use the tools that will be relevant to their professional lives.”
AI Literacy Integration Fellows will study approaches to help students learn about and engage AI tools through an ethical lens centered on human dignity and the common good, Bennett noted. They'll work with their departments to identify relevant technologies and develop teaching strategies that promote AI literacy while ensuring the integrity of students’ learning in their disciplines.
“Our students must be prepared to work effectively and ethically in AI-augmented environments,” Bennett said as she emphasized the ethical dimension of the initiative. “As Pope Francis reminded us in Antiqua et Nova, technology must serve human flourishing, not diminish it. An important part of our approach is thinking critically about the social, ecological, economic and spiritual implications of AI. We want our students to be thoughtful, responsible professionals who raise important questions for themselves and society.”
