{"id":34379,"date":"2026-05-11T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/?p=34379"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T22:16:10","slug":"funding-recipient-spotlight-professional-development-award-for-the-2026-ai%c2%b2-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/funding-recipient-spotlight-professional-development-award-for-the-2026-ai%c2%b2-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"Funding Recipient Spotlight: Professional Development Award for the 2026 AI\u00b2 Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a guest post written by funding recipient, Merinda McLure. Merinda used NNLM Region 4 professional development funds to attend the AI\u00b2 Summit a few weeks ago.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

As March turned to April\u00a0this spring, I was\u00a0thrilled\u00a0to\u00a0receive\u00a0NNLM Region 4 support\u00a0to attend the\u00a0<\/span>AI<\/span><\/span>2<\/span><\/sup><\/span>\u00a0Summit:\u00a0Artificial Intelligence and Academic Innovation<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0presented by the University of Florida, March 29\u2013April 2, in Orlando, Florida.\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"AAs the University of Colorado Boulder\u2019s Health & Human Sciences Librarian,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0busy working\u00a0to keep pace\u00a0with\u00a0rapid\u00a0developments in\u00a0artificial intelligence (AI)\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0related\u00a0implications,\u00a0challenges,\u00a0and opportunities\u00a0that\u00a0AI presents\u00a0for\u00a0librarians, educators, researchers, and students.\u00a0I\u00a0correctly\u00a0anticipated\u00a0that attending\u00a0AI<\/span>2<\/span><\/sup>\u2014with its\u00a0specific\u00a0focus on AI in higher education\u00a0and the University of Florida’s\u00a0reputation\u00a0for its comprehensive\u00a0attention\u00a0to\u00a0AI in\u00a0higher education\u2014would valuably\u00a0support my learning.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Summit sessions were organized in four tracks: building an AI university, AI in teaching and learning, infrastructure and innovation, and various AI topics.\u00a0The spectrum of sessions\u00a0addressed\u00a0perspectives, experiences, initiatives, and case studies\u00a0across higher\u00a0education interests and concerns\u00a0spanning\u00a0AI in\u00a0teaching and learning,\u00a0related\u00a0University policy\u00a0and\u00a0leadership,\u00a0supporting\u00a0faculty\u00a0capacity\u00a0and\u00a0development, and more.\u00a0Just a\u00a0handful of\u00a0the\u00a0many\u00a0take-aways\u00a0that I\u2019ve returned with include\u00a0perspectives\u00a0on\u00a0ways in which AI\u00a0has\u00a0presented a need to\u00a0revisit and\u00a0develop\u00a0approaches to\u00a0evaluating student learning, and\u00a0the\u00a0increased\u00a0importance of\u00a0more transparent\u00a0educator\u00a0insight\u00a0into\u00a0and assessment\u00a0of students’ learning\u00a0and working\u00a0processes,\u00a0and not\u00a0only\u00a0their\u00a0final\u00a0course\/program outcomes. In addition,\u00a0the\u00a0critical and enduring\u00a0importance of developing students\u2019\u00a0very human\u00a0skills in\u00a0communication, problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration.\u00a0Further,\u00a0institutional-level,\u00a0strategic\u00a0considerations,\u00a0such as amending existing university policies to account for AI, rather than creating new ones\u00a0in such a rapidly changing\u00a0and unpredictable\u00a0environment;\u00a0the\u00a0importance of providing clear\u00a0but also flexible\u00a0guidance on responsible and ethical AI use\u00a0for faculty and students; and\u00a0the need to thoughtfully navigate\u00a0tensions between decentralizing and centralizing AI\u00a0tools\u00a0and\u00a0use\u00a0guidance\u00a0with consideration of costs\u00a0but also academic units\u2019 and disciplinary communities\u2019\u00a0differing values,\u00a0autonomy, and needs.\u00a0Additionally,\u00a0the\u00a0need for faculty\u00a0advocacy for and\u00a0attention to\u00a0the place of\u00a0AI in disciplinary-specific learning, and\u00a0the importance of continuous, hands-on faculty development\u00a0that is mindful of\u00a0educators\u2019\u00a0exponential impact on student\u00a0learning and experiences.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe\u00a0AI<\/span>2<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Summit\u00a0was a valuable learning opportunity, with a relatively small community of attendees from higher education across the U.S. and beyond,\u00a0and one\u00a0that\u00a0I\u2019d recommend for librarians\u00a0seeking both broader, high-level perspectives on AI\u00a0developments,\u00a0policy and\u00a0leadership considerations, and infrastructure\u00a0in higher education,\u00a0as well as presentations\u00a0with a\u00a0closer\u00a0focus\u00a0such as educator\u00a0experiences\u00a0and experiments\u00a0in teaching,\u00a0academic\u00a0program\/disciplinary\u00a0initiatives,\u00a0faculty development, and student learning experiences.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0grateful to the NNLM Region 4 for supporting my learning.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a guest post written by funding recipient, Merinda McLure. Merinda used NNLM Region 4 professional development funds to attend the AI\u00b2 Summit a few weeks ago.\u00a0 As March turned to April\u00a0this spring, I was\u00a0thrilled\u00a0to\u00a0receive\u00a0NNLM Region 4 support\u00a0to attend the\u00a0AI2\u00a0Summit:\u00a0Artificial Intelligence and Academic Innovation\u00a0presented by the University of Florida, March 29\u2013April 2, in Orlando,… Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funding"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34379"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34394,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34379\/revisions\/34394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.nnlm.gov\/region_4\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}