Front Range Community College has been selected as the only community college from Colorado to participate in the national Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Institute on AI, Pedagogy and the Curriculum, a program designed to help institutions explore how artificial intelligence can be responsibly and effectively integrated into higher education. FRCC joins 191 colleges across the country who will spend eight months learning from the nation’s leading experts at the intersection of AI, teaching, learning, technology and change. 

“This think tank includes the best and brightest in our field currently assembled in the US,” said FRCC President Colleen Simpson, EdD. “We are eager to join and learn from this elite group of institutions, working with experts from around the country and across disciplines, collaborating on projects and sharing expertise and resources.” 

This new effort will build on FRCC’s ongoing research and initiatives related to AI use and training employees how to effectively use these powerful tools. As part of the institute, FRCC plans to accelerate its engagement with AI by unifying ongoing innovation under a coordinated institutional strategy. The college’s new AI team will develop a values-driven vision for AI, invest in faculty and student AI literacy, and make recommendations for the college’s strategy toward building an infrastructure for responsible, scalable AI use in teaching and learning. 

“AI is reshaping our students’ education and their world,” said FRCC’s VP of Strategy & Innovation Alana Olschwang. “Knowing how to use AI is quickly emerging as a necessary workforce skill. By participating in this nationwide institute, FRCC is positioning itself to thoughtfully prepare our students and faculty for that world—and for their futures in it.” 

“We want to ensure that our institution engages with AI through our human-centered values,” she added. “Thoughtful AI use can also increase inclusion for our students by offering support for digital equity and engagement in new ways.”  

Purpose of Participating 

Due to the rapidly changing nature of the AI field, FRCC’s involvement in this institute is critical. With so many new products and tools emerging and new ways to use them in our work, our goal is to bring knowledge to the college community in real time, improving teaching and learning while preparing graduates for the changing expectations in the workforce.  

By building a coalition of change agents around the college, along with a clear vision and effective structures to support employees, the college plans to scale up what is learned across the institution’s three campuses—and to share this across the Colorado Community College System. 

In addition to being a powerful tool for learning, AI also creates challenges for colleges with regard to academic integrity and student learning. This institute is designed to help campuses navigate these complexities and address these types of concerns, including questions about policies, ethics and the future of learning. 

Creating a Roadmap for AI Use 

Over the coming year, participating institutions will engage in events, mentorship and collaboration with other campuses as they work to “develop and implement AI action plans for their classrooms, curricula and campuses,” according to a news release from AAC&U. 

Through the course of the yearlong program, FRCC’s faculty lead Matt Stillwell will lead our new AI team in their work to: 

• Draft a collegewide roadmap for integrating AI into the institution’s pedagogy and curriculum 
• Propose professional development models for faculty and staff 
• Create draft guidelines and resources to support equitable, ethical and innovative practices 

FRCC’s team will seek guidance from the AAC&U institute in areas like:  

• Building inclusive frameworks for institutional AI integration 
• Supporting faculty across disciplines 
• Addressing access-related and ethical challenges at as institution with limited centralized funding for AI tools 

FRCC’s Goals for the Institute 

This new effort is being led by a core team of FRCC employees who are participating in the institute. Together, they have identified five key goals for the college’s participation in the institution. Over the next year, the college will: 

• Analyze and understand baseline levels for AI literacy/fluency of FRCC students, teachers, staff and administrators, examining and reporting out on our college’s comfort with and experience using AI. 
• Develop and communicate consistent collegewide definitions, vocabulary and language to describe AI literacy and fluency. 
• Explore no-cost (or low-cost) AI tools for students, teachers, staff and administrators to use.  
• Build community resilience against algorithmic bias and data surveillance in AI—by raising awareness of data rights and teaching navigational skills to allow individuals to have agency in their AI use. 
• Bridge AI literacy/fluency in education with workforce development, so that students are prepared to compete in rapidly changing digital and human-centered workplaces. 

READ FULL NEWS RELEASE ON THE FRCC BLOG:

https://blog.frontrange.edu/2026/02/04/front-range-community-college-selected-for-national-institute-on-ai-pedagogy-and-the-curriculum/