AI Across the Curriculum: Early Insights from UNR Students and Faculty

In July 2025, the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) joined librarians, educators, and administrators across 15-20 institutions to participate in an Ithaka S+R AI cohort. Ithaka S+R has worked with academic libraries, teaching and learning centers, and college administrators across more than 60 institutions, leading cohorts focused on teaching and learning with AI, integrating AI literacy into the curriculum, and more. This third cohort focused on defining, implementing, and scaling AI literacy initiatives across higher education. Through interviews with faculty and students, cohorts investigate needs surrounding AI literacy specific to their campus. This presentation will describe the preliminary results of the interviews conducted with students and faculty locally. The UNR cohort’s aim was to interview students and faculty across the disciplines, with a focus on upper-level students, as well as teaching faculty. The session will reveal insights around student and faculty AI use, thoughts on AI policies, suggestions for AI literacy resources, and finally, reflections on future impacts across both higher education and society. Session participants can expect to glean useful information from the variety of unique perspectives and experiences offered by interviewees. Polling activities will be used throughout the session to engage participants. Preliminary results from our local study offer ideas for ways to add clarity to an AI policy, navigate AI uncertainty and ever-changing tools, support AI literacy development, and more.