Over the past year, the University of Iowa made significant advances in shaping how artificial intelligence is understood and applied across campus. This year’s progress reflects a university-wide commitment to approaching AI with curiosity, care, and intention.
Through new programs, expanded learning opportunities, and a focus on responsible use, OneIT and campus partners laid a strong foundation for AI that supports teaching, research, and daily work—while keeping people and values at the center.
“By pairing expanded access and experimentation with clear principles and guidance, the University of Iowa is positioning itself not just to adopt AI—but to shape how it can responsibly enhance learning, research, and work in the years ahead,” says Associate Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) Brad Rohrer.
Setting direction through strategy
At the campus level, a new AI Strategic Plan Action and Resource Committee (SPARC) was established, led by the CIO and Barry Thomas, associate provost for faculty and strategic operations.
The committee finalized AI guiding principles and an action plan, providing a clear framework to guide the university’s AI efforts moving forward.
As part of this work, the AI SPARC committee surveyed faculty to better understand how AI is being used and where concerns remain. More than 550 faculty participated, offering valuable insight into current practices and future needs. Key themes included the use of AI to reduce administrative burden and interest in using AI to help students explore perspectives on a topic.
“Faculty shared thoughtful concerns, including student dependency, erosion of critical thinking skills, hallucinations, and the ethical and appropriate use of AI,” Thomas says. “At the same time, the survey surfaced creative and promising ideas—like using AI to simulate clients or patients for experiential learning, forming student groups based on preferences and schedules, supporting data analysis without extensive technical training, and creating interactive podcasts from course materials.“
The SPARC committee will continue these conversations as it considers next steps for campus-wide AI strategy.
Growing an AI community across campus
A new AI support team in Information Technology services launched a monthly AI newsletter. It features updates on AI tools and guidelines, highlights campus and external AI events, showcases emerging use cases, and helps faculty and staff stay informed as the landscape evolves.
That spirit of shared learning continued through monthly AI lightning talks, featuring short presentations on AI projects, concepts, use cases, and impacts.
“These brief talks are designed to spark ideas, encourage collaboration, and inspire innovative applications of AI,” says Maddi Brenner, one of the three AI support team consultants and facilitator of the lightning talks. “We also make recordings available on the ITS website, extending the reach of these conversations beyond live sessions.”
Together, these efforts created regular touchpoints for learning and dialogue—helping normalize thoughtful experimentation while building a common understanding of both the possibilities and limitations of AI.
Expanding access to tools and practical guidance
Throughout the year, ITS continued to maintain and expand AI tools content, including an AI tool comparison chart and role-based guidance. These resources offer a starting point for hands-on learning, helping users make informed decisions about when and how AI tools can add value to their work.
Access also expanded with the availability of ChatGPT Edu, along with the newly enabled ability to share custom GPTs externally. This milestone allows for broader collaboration while reinforcing shared responsibility: users are reminded to protect confidential university data when working beyond institutional boundaries. The AI team continues to test additional features with an eye toward enabling more capabilities in the future.
In parallel, ITS conducted a Microsoft Copilot 365 “test flight,” gathering feedback from participants through a user survey. These insights are helping inform next steps as the university explores how generative AI can responsibly support productivity and creativity.
Creating space for exploration and learning
This year also marked progress on Iowa’s AI Gateway Pilot, which began recruiting participants.
“The AI gateway provides a secure, multi-model AI workspace accessed using HawkID credentials, allowing users to work with multiple approved AI models in one place,” says Manda Marshall, who leads the AI Support Team. “Designed with security and flexibility in mind, the pilot represents an important step toward scalable, institutionally supported AI experimentation.”
The HawkAI program, sponsored by the Iowa Initiative for Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology Services, continued to grow, offering both introductory and advanced professional development courses in artificial intelligence and machine learning to address a wide range of learning needs across faculty, research staff, and student researchers.
New Level III HawkAI courses were added for the fall semester. Aimed at developers of AI tools and applications, these advanced offerings require appropriate computational backgrounds and further strengthen Iowa’s AI education pipeline.