SUNY Niagara faculty confront the promise and peril of artificial intelligence as it reshapes learning, literacy, and the meaning of human thought in U.S. classrooms.
By Shen Pe Utz Taa-Neter
National Context
Across the United States, artificial intelligence has moved from novelty to necessity in higher education. A 2026 College Board study found that 74 percent of faculty report students using AI to write essays, and nearly half believe this reliance undermines critical thinking and originality. Meanwhile, Cengage Group reports that over 60 percent of students use AI weekly for summarizing readings or generating study materials, while only 40 percent of faculty receive institutional training on responsible use.
This rapid adoption has exposed what eCampus News calls a “pedagogy gap” — the divide between technological proficiency and the human act of teaching. As colleges pivot from detection to integration, SUNY Niagara’s faculty are wrestling with how to preserve authentic learning while preparing students for an AI-driven workforce.
Campus Voices
Maria Sebastian — Professor of English
Sebastian captures the unease many educators feel at this turning point.
“Students suddenly write like PhD students. It’s not convincing,” she said.
Her solution is to design assignments that AI cannot easily replicate — film analyses and in-class discussions that demand genuine engagement. She warns that while AI may make life easier, it risks “making us dumber” if it replaces curiosity and literacy. Her insistence on human-to-human connection and compassion as enduring skills echoes national calls for “AI literacy with empathy” in general education.
David Milazzo — Professor of Mathematics
Milazzo’s data-driven perspective reveals the cognitive cost of convenience.
“Students who get 100 percent on online assignments are turning in 20’s and 30’s on in-class assessments,” he said.
He likens AI’s misuse to nuclear energy — powerful but dangerous in careless hands. His concern for the “demise of personal thinking” mirrors national faculty fears that generative tools erode problem-solving and reasoning, the very skills employers prize. Milazzo’s stance underscores the need for structured AI use that reinforces, rather than replaces, critical thought.
Lisa Dubuc — Coordinator of Online Learning/SUNY Niagara AI Task Force Chair
Dubuc leads SUNY Niagara’s AI Task Force and embodies the shift from reaction to strategy. “We’re moving away from detection and policing to authorship of work,” she explained.
Her initiatives — including an AI Fluency Course and digital badges for ethical use — position Niagara as a model for governance. She advocates embedding AI literacy into general education, aligning with national trends toward curriculum-wide digital ethics. Dubuc’s emphasis on shared governance and faculty-centered policy reflects the broader movement to democratize AI oversight in academia.
Dr. Melanie Mayberry — Professor of Cultural Anthropology
Dr. Mayberry’s anthropological lens exposes the cultural tension behind technology adoption.
“AI has the potential to break the kneecaps of the thinking process,” she said.
Her classroom experiment — requiring AI use in writing assignments — revealed student resistance and discomfort. She now reframes AI as a subject of inquiry: analyzing how it reshapes culture and cognition. Her approach mirrors national research urging educators to treat AI not as a shortcut but as a cultural artifact to critique, fostering awareness rather than dependence.
Caitlin Wetherwax — Director of Student Success Services
Wetherwax focuses on equity and imagination.
“AI doesn’t do all the work for you,” she reminds students.
She warns that paywalls and subscription models could widen access gaps, while free tools might empower motivated learners. Her vision of a campus-wide “AI agent” to guide ethical use parallels national proposals for institutional guardrails that ensure fairness and accessibility. Her closing concern — that “imagination and art could die” — brings the conversation full circle, reminding readers that creativity remains the one domain AI cannot imitate.
Student Impact and Future Outlook
Across the country, colleges are shifting from reactive policies to strategic frameworks for AI integration. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that more than 70 percent of U.S. institutions now include AI literacy in their strategic plans, emphasizing ethics, equity, and transparency. SUNY Niagara’s Future Forward 2026–2030 Strategic Plan mirrors this national momentum, helping the campus move “from reactive to strategic,” as Lisa Dubuc explains.
“The recent Faculty Senate discussions reflect an important evolution toward shared governance and collaborative policy development,” she said. “We’re engaging faculty voices early, emphasizing academic freedom and student privacy, and building a cross-functional AI governance framework.”
This governance model connects directly to student experience. By embedding AI literacy into general education and ensuring equitable access to approved tools, SUNY Niagara aims to prepare graduates who can think critically with technology, not just through it. Dubuc’s call for an ad hoc faculty-centered AI group underscores the need for policies grounded in real teaching contexts — a safeguard against the overreliance that Milazzo and Sebastian warn about.
Milazzo’s concern for “the demise of personal thinking” finds its counterbalance in Dubuc’s structured fluency courses, which teach students to critique and improve AI-generated content. Sebastian’s insistence on human-to-human connection complements Wetherwax’s reminder that imagination and art remain irreplaceable. Together, these perspectives reveal a campus striving to preserve human creativity and ethical reasoning amid technological acceleration.
Dr. Mayberry’s cultural lens adds depth to this transformation. Her plan to have students analyze how AI reshapes culture mirrors Dubuc’s institutional push for reflection and authorship. Both approaches treat AI not as a shortcut but as a subject of inquiry — a way to understand how technology alters thought, identity, and community.
Nationally, this alignment between faculty insight and student impact is critical. The American Association of Colleges and Universities notes that AI literacy will soon be as fundamental as digital literacy, requiring students to evaluate sources, question algorithms, and engage ethically with machine-generated content. SUNY Niagara’s faculty are already modeling that balance: skepticism paired with adaptation, caution tempered by creativity.
As Dubuc puts it, “Every student should graduate with a baseline understanding of how to use AI responsibly, evaluate its outputs, and understand its limitations.”
That vision — echoed by every professor interviewed — defines the next chapter of U.S. higher education: a future where technology aids thought, not replaces it.
Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant concept — it’s a daily presence in classrooms, assignments, and campus policy. SUNY Niagara’s faculty remind us that the challenge is not to resist technology, but to reclaim the human purpose behind learning. From Milazzo’s call for critical thinking to Sebastian’s defense of compassion, from Dr. Mayberry’s cultural critique to Wetherwax’s advocacy for equity, and Dubuc’s vision for governance, their voices converge on one truth:
AI literacy will become as essential to future graduates as reading, writing, and reasoning — the new foundation of an educated mind.
Spring 2026 
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