In 2023, while serving as the associate director of faculty development at a STEM-focused university, I cofounded and chaired an AI impact group endorsed by executive leadership. No stranger to AI, this institution features a supercomputer and a building named after the senior vice president of software engineering at NVIDIA, a global leader in AI. There, I witnessed faculty from across disciplines come together without hesitation to engage in essential, and at times contentious, dialogue. Through active participation in the group, I learned the necessity of engaging in critical thinking on four vital areas: ethics, DEI, technological determinism, and fragmentary thinking. The purpose of this article is to provide leadership with a framework for fostering robust conversations about AI.
Character (Still) Counts: Moral Injury and the Case for Character Education
Many academic leaders remember the Character Counts! initiative from the 1990s and early 2000s. It was visible in schools and youth programs nationwide, emphasizing as core values the Six Pillars
Teresa Maggard Stephens
June 15, 2026
