Dean's Message, Academic Year Kick-Off

Welcome back, COLA! As we settle into the new semester, the development of our college strategic plan and the General Education revision continues to move forward. This fall, a proposed framework will be shared with faculty for feedback ahead of Faculty Senate approval. This proposed framework includes some changes such as a new interdisciplinary first-year course on technology and society launching as a pilot this fall. An encouraging sign, the Provost has committed faculty lines and a staff line to help coordinate and deliver the course. This is a strong show of confidence in COLA’s role in the AI direction and initiatives across the university.

This work is also getting additional support from current faculty. Kaitlin Stack Whitney, Associate Professor in Science, Technology, and Society and chair of the First-Year Course faculty working group, has been appointed Special Assistant to the Dean through spring 2027. She'll focus especially on the first-year course pilot, including recruiting and supporting pilot faculty and coordinating professional development and support. 

The Provost has also approved a new Academic Program and Curriculum Specialist position to provide operational and project management support for the curriculum going forward. None of this progress would be possible without the sustained work of the faculty who have served on General Education working groups this past year, and we're grateful they'll continue in this next phase.

As departments think about what a first-year course on technology and society might look like, it's worth noting how much is being written right now about teaching in the age of AI. There's a growing body of reports and articles worth a look, including MIT's new report on AI and education, which explores how AI is reshaping classroom dynamics and offers principles and recommendations, from redesigning assessments to protecting the “productive struggle” that learning depends on.

It's also worth situating this work in the broader labor-market context the OECD Skills Outlook 2025 lays out. The report finds that AI and other digital technologies are changing skill requirements faster than in the past. Between 2021 and 2024, the skills required for the average job shifted by roughly a third, with the most disrupted occupations generally those requiring higher qualifications. Routine tasks are most easily replaced, while demand is growing for exactly what a liberal arts education cultivates: non-routine problem solving, adaptability, sound judgment in unfamiliar situations, and the ability to communicate, collaborate, and think critically amidst new technologies. 

The OECD frames these as core 21st-century skills, information-processing skills alongside social, emotional, and self-regulatory ones, and notes that education systems will need to instruct on them deliberately rather than assume they emerge on their own. As AI reshapes what routine work looks like, the human capacities the liberal arts have always taught become a differentiator, and they will be central to how we define our strategic plan going forward.

More opportunities to learn about the proposed GE framework and share feedback will be offered throughout the fall, through faculty meetings and asynchronous surveys, with faculty encouraged to consider joining the Learning Community focused on teaching the first-year course. Students will have chances to weigh in as well, so their voices may also help shape the framework.

Looking forward to working with everyone on these big initiatives this year!

— Kelly Norris Martin, Ph.D., Dean of the RIT College of Liberal Arts