By Claire McGranahan
From ethics and media law to communication, health care, and the humanities, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) faculty are playing a central role in designing the university's new interdisciplinary certificate in artificial intelligence and shaping how students will learn about one of the most consequential technologies of their generation.
The leadership is reflected in the university's inaugural cohort of AI Fellows, the group of select faculty charged with developing the courses that students will take to complete the certificate. With the majority of those fellows coming from CLAS, they bring expertise that examines not only how AI works, but how it affects society, culture, communication, education, and public life.
While many conversations about AI focus on technical capabilities, CLAS faculty involved in the certificate stress that students also need to understand the ethical, legal, cultural, and human questions surrounding the technology.
“AI literacy requires a more complete understanding of the responsible use and misuse of AI tools, and how to evaluate the scope and impact of their use,” said Cornelia Lang, associate dean for undergraduate education in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
The effort in building AI literacy arrives at a moment when conversations about AI often generate as much skepticism as excitement.
Some students embrace generative AI tools as part of their daily academic lives. Others avoid them out of concerns about creativity, ethics, environmental impact, or academic integrity. Faculty perspectives vary as well, ranging from enthusiasm about new possibilities to concerns about how AI may disrupt learning, research, and professional fields.
Rather than avoiding those tensions, faculty involved in the certificate see them as central to the educational mission.
Taking a critical approach to AI
Jovana Davidovic, associate professor of Philosophy and an AI Fellow teaching “Ethics of Artificial Intelligence” this fall, has researched and published extensively on the ethics of AI. Her class this fall will start by building an understanding that AI has become necessary even for people who choose not to use it.
"We are not just users," Davidovic said. "We are subjects [of information] to AI, political participants in decisions about AI."
Her perspective reflects the broader philosophy behind the certificate. Davidovic's course focuses on the ethical dimensions of AI, including transparency, bias, reliability, trustworthiness, and governance. Her goal is not to persuade students to adopt AI tools, but to help them understand how those systems affect society and how risks can be identified and mitigated.
“AI’s reliability is an ethical issue. For example, if I don’t know if a system is going to work, why would I use it?” she asked. “We need transparency, and explainability—not just in how the tool makes a decision, but why the decision was made in the first place.”
Drawing on research that examines AI risk assessment and governance across industries ranging from finance and education to military defense, Davidovic hopes students leave with practical skills for evaluating how AI systems affect people and institutions. The course is designed not simply to teach students how AI works, but to help them ask whether a system should be used, who benefits from it, who might be harmed, and how risks can be reduced.
That emphasis on critical inquiry extends across the certificate.
AI in the humanities
Paul Dilley, professor of Classics and Religious Studies and an AI Fellow teaching “Interrogating Artificial Intelligence: Exploring New Ancient Worlds,” plans to examine both the opportunities and limitations of AI through the lens of the ancient world. His course will explore how humanistic perspectives can improve AI systems while also examining instances where those systems contribute to misinformation.
He sees the certificate as an opportunity to bring together perspectives that are often absent from discussions about emerging technologies.
"The creation of a multidisciplinary academic community within the University of Iowa that is dedicated to thinking deeply about this new and disruptive cultural technology" is among the initiative's most exciting possibilities, Dilley said.
While some certificate courses examine AI's societal implications, others focus on helping students become informed and confident users of the technology.
Promoting AI literacy and confidence
Mark Berardi, adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders and an AI Fellow teaching “Human Voice and AI Technologies: Accessibility, Security, and Healthcare,” developed a self-paced AI literacy lab that introduces students to AI technology, its benefits, and its limitations. The project has revealed a striking pattern: many students regularly use AI tools while simultaneously feeling uncomfortable about doing so.
"Students are using it, but they feel guilty doing it," Berardi said. "This is the disparity that we, in academia, need to fix."
His research has shown that structured instruction can improve students' confidence in evaluating AI tools while maintaining critical-thinking and metacognitive skills. The experience has reinforced his belief that AI literacy should be viewed as a broad educational need rather than a niche technical topic.
For Berardi, the goal is not simply teaching students how to use AI, but helping them understand what the technology is, where it succeeds, where it falls short, and how to approach it responsibly. His work examining speech, voice technologies, and interpretable machine learning highlights another theme that runs throughout the certificate: AI's impact reaches far beyond computer science.
Redefining the future of legal work
The same questions are emerging across professional fields, including media law.
Brett Johnson, associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and an AI Fellow teaching “The Law and AI,” will teach a course examining how AI is changing legal doctrine, public policy, and the legal profession itself. He said discussions about AI often resemble earlier debates about the internet and social media, but with a greater sense of urgency because of the speed of change.
Johnson has also observed a divide among students. Some readily incorporate AI into brainstorming and coursework. Others reject it because they see it as a threat to creativity or authentic learning.
“Will this certificate be perfect? Are we going to create media literacy and inoculate people against all the harms of AI? I don't know,” he said. “I'm excited to be a part of it. I love what I teach: I teach about freedom of speech, freedom of the press, things that are fundamental... and I see this current course, and I have this real sense of responsibility and duty. This is going to be a big deal. Students are going to be counting on us.”
Failing to help students understand AI, he argues, would leave them less prepared for the realities of a rapidly changing workforce, while uncritical adoption would ignore legitimate concerns about learning, creativity, employment, and public policy.
“As the University of Iowa prepares to launch its newest AI certificate for undergraduate students, faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are helping define what AI education will look like on campus,” Lang said. “Their courses span disciplines, viewpoints, and professional fields, but they share a common goal: ensuring that students graduate with the knowledge and judgment needed to navigate a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.”
In that sense, the certificate is about more than disruptive technology. It is an example of how liberal arts and sciences can help students understand one of the defining forces of the modern era.