EMU's Gen AI Spring Summit: Navigating Change Together

By:  Ann Blakeslee

It was three years ago this month that we started our initial conversations about what, at that time, was mainly ChatGPT, and what impacts it might have on our teaching and research. I want to say we’ve come a long way since then, and I believe we truly have—but it’s been anything but linear or straightforward. And, if we mapped all of our feelings about and perspectives on Gen AI even just across campus, I’m fairly confident the map would clearly display the very wide range of perspectives we all hold. While some of us may be neutral, many of us hold strong opinions, whether about ethical issues connected to Gen AI, environmental concerns, the value and usefulness of it, etc. Also, some of us were early adopters, some have come to it gradually, some still not at all. What we perhaps can all agree on is that it is still with us, has become a larger part of our lives, and remains a topic of interest, concern, and debate.

In other words, this isn't any longer the distant future—it's happening now, and it's raising a lot of important questions. Some of those questions are practical: How do the tools work? What can they do? How might they change our teaching, learning, and work in our fields? Other questions run a little deeper: What are the environmental costs of training and running these systems? How do we address bias, privacy, ethics, and intellectual property? What effect will Gen AI have on creativity and critical thinking? What will be the impact on work and our roles at work? Also, who benefits from these technologies, and who might be harmed?

With all of this in mind, a group of us, coordinated through the Office of Campus & Community Writing, with support from the Faculty Development Center, the Provost’s Office, the Graduate School, and all of the colleges, have created an opportunity for all of us, and others across our region, to come together for thoughtful conversation about this topic.

On March 16, 2026, EMU will host a Gen AI Spring Summit to bring together faculty, staff, administrators, and students from community colleges, universities, and K-12 schools; workplace professionals; librarians; and community members—anyone who wants a voice in how we respond to this new technology. 

Our goal for the Summit is to create a space for honest exchange where everyone’s perspectives matter, whether you're just beginning to explore Gen AI tools; concerned about the ethics, implications, and/or environmental impact of AI; or already integrating Gen AI extensively into your professional practice and/or lives. We want to affirm the valuable knowledge and insight that exist across all sectors, perspectives, and experience levels.  In other words, this summit is for anyone interested in how generative AI is reshaping teaching, learning, working, and living. 

To attend, you don't need technical expertise, you don't need to have used Gen AI tools before, and you don't even need to be excited about the technology. Our purpose is to bring together people within and beyond EMU to learn with and from one another and to support each other through our shared experiences, expertise, concerns, and ideas. EMU is well-positioned to serve as a kind of hub for this sort of inclusive, community-centered dialogue about technological change. In other words, we can lead, not by claiming mastery of Gen AI itself, but by modeling how all of our various communities can navigate these innovations together, thoughtfully and collaboratively. The summit, therefore, is for everyone, and especially those interested in the possibilities, concerns, practical realities, and questions we are all facing as we collectively look toward and seek to shape our futures.

We hope many of our EMU community members—faculty, lecturers, staff, administrators, and students—will consider attending the Summit. The purpose of all of the sessions will be to share experiences, expertise, concerns, and ideas in and across our different contexts. We envision sessions that are robust and collaborative and that bring together both EMU and other educational, workplace, and community stakeholders. We’ll have ignite talks, individual presentations, panel presentations, workshops, roundtables, demonstrations, and gallery/poster presentations. 

This is about more than just learning to use new tools. It's about collectively deciding how—and whether—to integrate these technologies in ways that reflect our values and serve our community's needs. EMU isn't positioning itself as the authority promoting AI adoption. Instead, the university is creating space for genuine exchange—a place where enthusiasm and skepticism can both be heard, where practical applications and ethical concerns can be discussed side by side. We're here to learn from one another, to build connections across sectors, and to develop frameworks for responsible engagement with AI. We want to help people understand these technologies while also grappling honestly with their implications. We intend for the summit to address the full spectrum of how generative AI is intersecting with our lives. 

Registration for the event will open in early February, and we are asking people to express their interest in attending to help us as we plan. You can do that here. Also, all EMU faculty, lecturers, students, staff, and administrators can attend for free.

We hope you’ll join us on March 16! Our hope is that we will also establish ongoing dialogue and sustained conversations beyond the Summit about how these technologies are impacting our region and how we can navigate and respond to these impacts in responsible ways.