Faculty,
I’m forwarding this call for participation in a Critical AI Literacy Institute from my colleague at the CUNY Graduate Center. A great (and paid) opportunity!
Greet
From
Luke Waltzer, Ph.D.
Director, Teaching and Learning Center
The Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Avenue, Room 3300.19
New York, NY 10016
http://cuny.is/teaching
Critical AI Literacy Institute: Call for Participation
Recent advances in generative artificial intelligence have had material, ecological, labor, and political implications that fundamentally challenge how faculty and students approach teaching and learning. For faculty, these developments have raised questions about pedagogical methods, evaluation of student learning, and knowledge practices in both the university and their scholarly areas. Students have been flooded with mixed messaging, broad promotion of generative AI both inside and outside of the institution, and insufficient guidance on how to use it ethically.
In this context faculty need time, space, and support to develop and refine curricula that contend with generative AI’s proliferation and students deserve approaches that prepare them to navigate evolving knowledge infrastructures with full awareness of the implications of their choices.
In 2025, the Teaching and Learning Center at the CUNY Graduate Center will launch the Critical AI Literacy Institute (CALI), which will draw together CUNY faculty to explore how generative artificial intelligence is impacting knowledge production within their academic disciplines. The goal of the program is to develop a community of practice that supports faculty as they question, explore, and grapple with how AI is reshaping their disciplinary practices. Faculty Fellows will develop adaptable teaching materials designed for CUNY’s undergraduate classrooms that model critical engagement with generative AI.
Fellowship Structure, Requirements, and Compensation
The first CALI will run from Spring 2025 through Fall 2025, and will bring together fifteen faculty members to envision, create, implement, test, and revise approaches to teaching with or about generative AI in undergraduate courses in their disciplines. Faculty from any discipline can apply, and will be organized into three disciplinary clusters: Social Sciences, STEM, and the Humanities.
Compensation for participation in this project will be $8000 in summer salary through the CUNY Research Foundation, paid in $4000 increments at the completion of two phases of work.
Phase One, April-August 2025
Faculty Fellows will:
· complete a selection of readings during the Spring 2025 semester
· participate in two Zoom seminar meetings in April-May 2025
· attend a two-day, in-person meeting the week of June 9, 2025 at the CUNY Graduate Center
· attend a one-day, in-person meeting the week of August 18, 2025
· develop a curricular module consisting of a scaffolded assignment and/or course unit that explores the intersection of generative AI and the core methodologies, skillsets, or epistemologies of the faculty member’s discipline
· contribute to ongoing program research activities
Phase Two, August 2025-January 2026
Faculty Fellows will:
· implement the designed curricula in at least one undergraduate course
· participate in evaluations of the modules, providing feedback about their teaching and reception
· facilitate student participation in project evaluation
· engage in feedback sessions with institute staff
· license relevant curricular artifacts created for CALI as OER
· participate in a project symposium at the CUNY Graduate Center in January, 2026
Eligibility
All full-time faculty from CUNY campuses who will be teaching undergraduate courses in Fall 2025 and available for all the activities stated above April 2025 through January 2026 are eligible to apply. Faculty with critical interests in generative AI or educational technology, and those actively involved in departmental curriculum processes are especially encouraged to apply.
Apply
To apply, please complete this form and send your CV and answers to the questions below in a single pdf (lastnamefirstname.pdf) to tlc@PROTECTED by February 1, 2025. Please use the subject line “Critical AI Grant Application.”
Please answer the following questions separately. Answers to each question should be fewer than 300 words.
1. What are the key learning goals in core courses within your discipline, and what strategies do you use to help students grow in their abilities to meet them? How do you see the presence of generative AI impacting that process?
2. What pedagogical challenges does generative AI pose in your courses, and how do you address them? Are students using generative AI in your courses now, and, if so, how?
3. What are the potential implications of AI adoption on teaching and learning environments at CUNY and within higher education more generally?
4. What curricular materials do you envision creating should you be invited to participate in the CALI?
Application form: http://cuny.is/criticalai-apply