#genAI #community #committee > [!summary]+ Summary > This page describes the background, timeline, purpose, and outcomes of a key community I established while leading genAI activities at GWU Center for Teaching Excellence. # genAI Faculty Advisory Council When I joined George Washington University (GWU) in July 2020, my primary responsibility was to design and launch new professional development programming that would strengthen faculty digital fluency. GWU had recently become an [Adobe Creative Campus](https://www.adobeforeducation.com/higher-ed/creative-campus) and sought to turn that designation into meaningful capability-building for faculty across disciplines. However, the COVID-19 pandemic drastically reshaped this initial vision as it accelerated digital transformation. Furthermore, the emergence of generative Artificial Intelligence (genAI) through OpenAI ChatGPT in November 2022 made clear the need to reimagine digital fluency further. By early 2023, my role expanded to developing strategy and leading the university’s response to genAI efforts within the central library. (See: [[2023, genAI Strategic roadmap]].) From the outset, it was clear that progress in this space required broad collaboration, shared perspectives, and trusted dialogue. Serving from the library provided a natural hub for this work, and over the course of late 2023 I formed a council by bringing together faculty and academic leaders from across GWU to provide guidance on initiatives within the library, surface concerns and opportunities across the schools, and help build meaningful connections across departments and disciplines. ## Establishment timeline The work to begin building the council started in spring 2023 by conducting a series of faculty interviews across campus. Through in-person and virtual conversations, I gained insight into the full spectrum of reactions to genAI—from enthusiasm to uncertainty—and heard early concerns about its implications for teaching, learning, and professional identity. In one such conversation, a faculty member openly questioned the simple value of their work teaching writing. As these conversations unfolded, I drafted the university’s genAI strategic plan, which included a recommendation to establish a **faculty advisory group** focused on exploring genAI in teaching, research, and productivity. This included creating a group that could formulate and provide guidance for administrative workflows. Over summer 2023, I piloted teaching and professional development programming to introduce genAI and to identify faculty who were interested in shaping broader conversations and initiatives affecting the university. By late 2023, the time was ripe to form group of partners who knew genAI could not be ignored. I began working with deans, directors, and faculty leaders to identify representatives from each GWU college and school with the goal of assembling a group that reflected a diversity of perspectives—optimists, skeptics, and those still deciding what genAI might mean for their work. By January 2024, the council launched with 20 faculty members representing nearly every academic unit across the university. ## Purpose and objectives The council was established with the understanding that ==genAI would continue to influence teaching and learning, and that faculty needed space to thoughtfully explore its implications across disciplines==. My leadership emphasized that the group should remain grounded in pedagogy and focus on how genAI could support student learning and instructional practice. ### Purpose The original purpose of the genAI FAC community was as follows: > *"…to **collectively explore and define new human-AI partnered pedagogies**. Through bringing together a diverse group of faculty representative of each college and school at GWU, this group will aim to create starting points for faculty across the university to begin effectively integrating genAI into their teaching practice whereby students can learn effective, appropriate and skillful ways of leveraging GAI in their learning."* ### Objectives The council had three agreed upon initial objectives: 1. **Identify and design pedagogies with genAI** — support the exploration of instructional strategies, classroom use cases, and discipline-specific applications. 2. **Provide genAI guidance and awareness** — help surface questions, articulate considerations, and contribute to shared understanding across campus. 3. **Generate community support** — create a trusted space for discussion, connection, and collaboration around evolving genAI practices. ## Results The council met five times during spring 2024. Each meeting included updates on ongoing genAI work in the library, a focused discussion topic, and time for members to share developments within their schools and departments. The group reconvened for three additional meetings in fall 2024 and exchanged insights and support members in their own campus-wide dialogue as the institutional perspectives evolved. As the work progressed into 2025, the council contributed in several meaningful ways: 1. Strengthened connections across schools and departments to form new working partnerships. 2. Gathered faculty support and assistance in AI literacy professional development efforts. 3. Increased awareness of genAI events, conversations, and engagement opportunities across campus. 4. Expanded requests for consultations on genAI integration with pedagogy. 5. Informed guidance documentation for genAI in teaching and learning. ## Naming and other changes The community was initially launched as the **LAI genAI Faculty Advisory Council**. Following [external coverage](https://gwhatchet.com/2024/02/15/libraries-academic-innovation-office-forms-ai-advisory-council/) (and [elsewhere](https://iblnews.org/the-george-washington-university-forms-ai-advisory-councils-in-each-school/)) highlighting the initiative, the name was updated to the **LAI genAI Faculty Advisory Group** to reflect an exploratory focus rather than a formal policy role. Again, the group was later renamed to **Generative AI in Teaching (GAIT)**, with an emphasis on genAI as a teaching and learning tool. Across name changes, the members remained committed to thoughtful exploration, collaboration, and pedagogical grounding.