Breaking Faculty Barriers to AI Literacy: Adoption, Incentives, and Scaling Strategies

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"Everybody is in the same position, saying, ‘I want to do it,’ yet we have more questions than answers about how to do it effectively."

As universities worldwide grapple with AI integration, faculty hesitation remains a major challenge. Concerns over academic integrity, pedagogical value, and technical complexity often slow adoption leaving institutions uncertain about how to scale AI use effectively.

Dr. Edinaldo Tebaldi, Vice President for Strategy and Institutional Effectiveness at Bryant University was interviewed by Danny Bielik, President of DEC during the DEC Executive Briefing #14: AI Literacy for All.

Bryant University is addressing these challenges head-on by leveraging AI to enhance faculty engagement and institutional branding.

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The Faculty Engagement Challenge

According to Tebaldi, faculty interest in AI is growing, yet there are more questions than answers on how to implement it effectively. 

A major barrier is the lack of understanding around AI’s potential applications and limitations in an academic setting. Faculty also express concerns about academic integrity and student misuse, mirroring past concerns when calculators and smartphones were introduced into education.

To address these barriers, Bryant University provides small grants to encourage faculty experimentation with AI. 

"If the incentives are not there, we're going to end up with just a handful of faculty members engaging with AI," Tebaldi stated.

He emphasised that financial incentives, tenure and promotion policies, and structured faculty engagement strategies are key considerations to driving AI adoption in universities.

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Scaling AI Beyond Faculty Training

While workshops are often seen as a go-to solution for AI training, Tebaldi stressed that peer learning and small-group training yield better results than large-scale workshops. However, scaling these approaches remains a challenge due to time and resource constraints.

Tebaldi also highlighted that AI adoption is not just for faculty — it requires engagement from staff and institutional leadership as well. Without administrative buy-in, universities may struggle to implement AI at scale.

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Leveraging AI for Institutional Branding

Beyond faculty engagement, Bryant University is using AI to enhance its institutional branding. The university developed an AI-powered chatbot, “Brand Guru”, designed to help faculty and staff align their messaging when communicating about the institution.

The chatbot ensures consistent branding across social media, marketing materials, and faculty-student interactions. As a result, faculty and staff are now using more unified language when describing Bryant University, strengthening its external communication.

However, Tebaldi acknowledged concerns about overreliance on AI, noting that some staff may become too dependent on AI-generated content. Maintaining a balance between AI efficiency and human creativity remains an ongoing challenge.

"AI has not replaced a single position at our institution. Instead, it has augmented our capacity and capability to communicate more effectively," Tebaldi explained.

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