The Cognitive Shift: Engineering Institutional AI Fluency for Faculty and Staff

Presenter Information

• Joe Faith Ph.D., Harding University
• John Boone M.S.I.S., Harding University

Location

Regions Room

Start Date

9-3-2026 2:00 PM

About the Author

Joe Faith, D.Eng., is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at Harding University, where he serves as the lead architect of the Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence program launched in Fall 2025. Professor Faith's research focuses on applied machine learning and deep learning, with particular emphasis on healthcare applications, sequential decision-making, and the integration of large language models into educational practice. His broader scholarly interests span reinforcement learning, generative AI, AI ethics, and the pedagogy of teaching machine learning from first principles. Professor Faith holds a D.Eng. in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning from The George Washington University, an M.S. in Data Science from Eastern University, and an M.S. in Information Systems and a B.B.A. in Information Systems from Harding University.

John Boone is an Assistant Professor and Health Science and Graduate Studies Librarian at Harding University’s Brackett Library, where he teaches information literacy classes, conducts research consultations, provides collection development, and research assistance for faculty, staff, and students. John earned his M.S. in Information Science from the University of Tennessee. He began following the growth and impact of artificial intelligence on higher education in 2022. He and Joe Faith are the co-founders of the HU AI Community of Practice.

John loves working with the students and helping them find the resources they need.

Description

In this session, an overview of the efforts of Harding with regards to AI will be presented, such as the work with creating an AI major and being early in the process of doing so compared with sister schools. Discussions will be had with regards to why AI is important for Harding faculty, staff, and students. A survey of current tools available will be given, along with an artifact created during the session, for participants to leave with to help them get started with AI efficiency. Along with this, a brainstorming session, Bison Brainstorm, will happen to help get ideas flowing around how AI can be used to increase efficiency at different levels of the university.