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The AI wave is here, and �������� is making sure its community is ready. 

To help students, faculty and staff navigate the fast-changing technology, �������� recently established the Center for Artificial Intelligence, a hub intended to foster innovation and collaboration and provide ethical guidance. 

“We recognize the transformative potential of AI, it’s big,” said Steven Zuromski, Information Technology vice president and chief information officer. “We also realize that AI has risks associated with it, which is one of the reasons we created the center to mitigate those concerns.”

Eric LePage, acting vice president for AI and EdTech Innovation oversees the center and looks forward to helping the �������� community better understand AI. Also involved with the center are Tim Wenson, acting director of the Teaching and Technology Center and Lee Forest, acting assistant director of the Center for AI. 

“We know that AI is reshaping academia, really in every aspect of our professional working worlds,” LePage said. “There are a lot of concerns about AI. We will not only be looking at what the benefits are, but it’s also important to entertain and consider all perspectives.”

LePage said the goal of the center is to serve as a hub for the university, to get folks to think about ways to implement AI, and to show how it can be used to foster AI literacy when it comes to professional development.

“We hope to provide ethical guidance around administrative work,” he said. 

The center will also be used to augment work done on campus to help reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks to free up time for the more creative aspects of planning. 

“If faculty are interested, if it’s appropriate, and if they have the desire, we can support them with AI integration,” LePage said. 

Another vision is to improve the student experience. The goal is to implement a centralized chat bot that can answer in real-time any questions students may have about financial aid, registration, IT services, and other topics. 

“Students would then be connected with a human. At the end of the day, we still need that human connection. We need humans to be front and center in the decision-making process. Technology can be wonderful, but we are not replacing humans,” LePage said. 

Sam Oo, ‘26, who is studying international relations and political science, is excited to see �������� taking steps to stay on track with the rapid advancements of AI. 

Oo is the founder and president of Bridgewater’s first AI student club. 

“I believe when some people think about AI, they are afraid of it, that it is replacing their jobs, or ending the world,” he said. “With education you can learn a lot of things using AI. I want to help connect the dots, to bring faculty, staff and students together and show that AI can be used to increase critical thinking, to increase creative thinking. I’m here to demystify it.”

Teaching and Technology Advisor and part-time childhood education instructor Tori Cameron is also available to talk to �������� community members, especially faculty, to answer AI-related questions. 

 “Some people have expressed their worries about AI, and that is valid. I hope to help people better understand it, to be literate in AI in some capacity,” she said. “Not knowing or educating ourselves can have a negative impact on how we treat it and how it relates to our students.”

Cameron added that AI can be used as a tool to take certain tasks off the shoulders of educators and clear up creative space. 

“We all have long to-do lists. AI can be used to help draft an email, create a schedule…As teachers, we not only work throughout the school day, but into the afternoons, evenings and weekends. To have a small weight taken off, that is where AI can be useful,” she said. 

Oo hopes to be a bridge between faculty and students, to open up conversations surrounding the new technology. 

“At �������� we have the opportunity to be pioneers, to look at AI in academia, to see how we can fix things, how we can address issues and concerns. I see �������� as being an institution that can contribute to AI in academic society,” he said. 

Do you have a �������� story you'd like to share? Email stories@bridgew.edu