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University of North Dakota Embeds AI Across Campus, Balancing Innovation With Writing Literacy
At the University of North Dakota, a quiet revolution is underway—an AI strategy that promises to weave smart assistants into classrooms, laboratories, and administrative offices while safeguarding the very writing skills that define academic success.
The initiative, spearheaded by Kate Kinney of the Teaching Transformation and Development Academy (TTaDA), began in 2023. Kinney, who once directed UND’s Writing Center, says the rapid pace of AI development is “untenable” and that the university must keep up without compromising students’ critical‑thinking and mental‑health outcomes. She added, “There is a ton going on. It’s really huge.” Her work dovetails with President Andrew Armacost’s 2022 vision of making UND the “AI university for North Dakota,” a goal that predates the current wave of generative‑model releases.
At the heart of the program is an “AI across the curriculum” initiative. Kinney’s role is to help faculty weave AI tools into their disciplinary courses, ensuring that learning outcomes—especially critical thinking and information literacy—remain central. Faculty workshops in May 2023 asked participants to redesign assignments so that AI becomes a complicating context rather than a shortcut. The resulting tasks were uploaded to an open‑educational‑resource (OER) platform that now hosts 73 AI‑related assignments and has been downloaded more than 15,000 times worldwide.
Beyond faculty development, UND has launched Co.AI, an AI Collective that brings together staff, faculty, and students from all colleges. The group inventories AI projects, use cases, and research ideas across campus. Kinney, a co‑chair, notes that members view AI from multiple angles—operational, pedagogical, research, and even skeptical. The collective plans to strengthen cross‑campus coordination in the fall.
The university also confronts concerns about AI’s impact on writing. The AI and Human Innovation Initiative, which examines AI from an arts‑and‑humanities perspective, recently hosted a showcase on nurturing writing skills. Kinney stresses that writing expertise is a “literacy that students need to be successful, no matter how that technology changes.” She recalls the 2022 Atlantic article “The College Essay Is Dead,” which sparked campus debate about AI’s role in writing.
UND’s strategy reaches beyond the classroom. Writing permeates every aspect of the institution—from assessment and grant writing to recruitment and public communication. As a result, the AI program touches assessment tools, funding applications, research dissemination, and student recruitment materials.
The university’s approach is part of a broader trend in higher education to integrate AI responsibly. Its open‑resource repository and faculty workshops provide a model for other institutions that want to balance innovation with the preservation of essential human skills.
The next phase will involve deeper experimentation with AI tools in teaching and research, as well as a renewed push to connect campus stakeholders in the fall. Leadership remains focused on ensuring that AI enhances, rather than replaces, the critical‑thinking and writing abilities that define UND’s educational mission.
While the program is still evolving, the university’s early results—thousands of downloads, active faculty participation, and a campus‑wide advisory group—suggest that UND is taking a structured, inclusive approach to AI adoption that could serve as a blueprint for other public research universities.
The initiative, spearheaded by Kate Kinney of the Teaching Transformation and Development Academy (TTaDA), began in 2023. Kinney, who once directed UND’s Writing Center, says the rapid pace of AI development is “untenable” and that the university must keep up without compromising students’ critical‑thinking and mental‑health outcomes. She added, “There is a ton going on. It’s really huge.” Her work dovetails with President Andrew Armacost’s 2022 vision of making UND the “AI university for North Dakota,” a goal that predates the current wave of generative‑model releases.
At the heart of the program is an “AI across the curriculum” initiative. Kinney’s role is to help faculty weave AI tools into their disciplinary courses, ensuring that learning outcomes—especially critical thinking and information literacy—remain central. Faculty workshops in May 2023 asked participants to redesign assignments so that AI becomes a complicating context rather than a shortcut. The resulting tasks were uploaded to an open‑educational‑resource (OER) platform that now hosts 73 AI‑related assignments and has been downloaded more than 15,000 times worldwide.
Beyond faculty development, UND has launched Co.AI, an AI Collective that brings together staff, faculty, and students from all colleges. The group inventories AI projects, use cases, and research ideas across campus. Kinney, a co‑chair, notes that members view AI from multiple angles—operational, pedagogical, research, and even skeptical. The collective plans to strengthen cross‑campus coordination in the fall.
The university also confronts concerns about AI’s impact on writing. The AI and Human Innovation Initiative, which examines AI from an arts‑and‑humanities perspective, recently hosted a showcase on nurturing writing skills. Kinney stresses that writing expertise is a “literacy that students need to be successful, no matter how that technology changes.” She recalls the 2022 Atlantic article “The College Essay Is Dead,” which sparked campus debate about AI’s role in writing.
UND’s strategy reaches beyond the classroom. Writing permeates every aspect of the institution—from assessment and grant writing to recruitment and public communication. As a result, the AI program touches assessment tools, funding applications, research dissemination, and student recruitment materials.
The university’s approach is part of a broader trend in higher education to integrate AI responsibly. Its open‑resource repository and faculty workshops provide a model for other institutions that want to balance innovation with the preservation of essential human skills.
The next phase will involve deeper experimentation with AI tools in teaching and research, as well as a renewed push to connect campus stakeholders in the fall. Leadership remains focused on ensuring that AI enhances, rather than replaces, the critical‑thinking and writing abilities that define UND’s educational mission.
While the program is still evolving, the university’s early results—thousands of downloads, active faculty participation, and a campus‑wide advisory group—suggest that UND is taking a structured, inclusive approach to AI adoption that could serve as a blueprint for other public research universities.
