Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee

Charge, Academic Year 2026-27

1. Purpose

The AI Advisory Committee is a presidential standing committee. It advises the President and Cabinet on the integration, development and responsible implementation of human-centered AI across the university's academic and administrative domains.

For academic year 2026-27, the committee will carry out its advisory role through applied work. It will review a portfolio of university projects, support that work through a cohort of student fellows and document the standards, procedures and practices that emerge. Recommendations to the President and Cabinet will be grounded in that experience. The committee's operating principle, adopted in its 2025-26 report, is to experiment widely, maintain clear guardrails, share what is learned and scale what works.

2. Program of Work

The committee conducts an annual cycle of applied projects in five stages.

2.1 Solicitation of proposals. Any division, college, or administrative unit, including the committee itself, may propose a project. A proposal is brief, a paragraph or a page and identifies the problem to be addressed, the sponsoring unit and the outcomes and deliverables anticipated by the close of the spring term.

2.2 Review and selection. The committee selects up to six projects for 2026/2027. Selection criteria are published with the call for proposals. Projects are evaluated on the commitment of an identified sponsoring unit or end-users, the feasibility of a working outcome within the academic year, the accessibility of the required data and the transferability of the result to other units. 

2.3 Implementation. Each approved project is assigned a directing member of the committee, at least one student fellow and personnel from the committee. The directing member is accountable for the project's progress and for its report. 

2.4 Documentation and recommendations. Each project team submits a brief report at the close of each term describing what was attempted, what succeeded, what did not and what standards or procedures proved necessary but unavailable. These reports constitute the evidentiary basis for university AI procedures and are forwarded to the AI Governance Taskforce as recommendations. Projects that do not succeed are reported as fully as those that do.

2.5 Dissemination. Project outcomes are presented publicly each spring at a campus AI Showcase, with participation supported by incentives such as professional development or conference funds. Staff participation is further supported through the Staff Adopt AI program, Staff AI Champions, CodeSignal assessment and training pathways, faculty participation through CFETI and student participation through forums and hackathons. The findings of the year are published in the annual SJSU AI Impact Report.

3. Subcommittee on Standards and Practice

In coordination with the Academic Senate and other campus committees, standing subcommittee operates alongside the project portfolio. It addresses matters common to all projects, including data access, the application of university standards in practice, policy implications. 

Members may serve concurrently on the subcommittee and on a project team. This overlap is intended. It allows the subcommittee to identify obstacles early and permits project teams to obtain guidance without delay.

4. AI Student Fellows Program

The committee appoints a cohort of paid student AI Fellows, ordinarily one for each approved project. Where practicable, the program builds upon the AI DevOps and Data Engineering graduates student internship program already administered by Information Technology Services.

• Fellows are appointed as a cohort and convene biweekly with the co-chairs.
• Fellows are recruited from across the university's colleges and programs.
• Each Fellow reports to the directing member of the committee.

5. Membership and Terms

Membership is determined through a campus-wide open call for nominations, consistent with the founding process of the committee. Appointments are announced before the first meeting of the academic year.

• Co-chairs (2), appointed by the President at least one of whom is a member of the Cabinet. The co-chairs are responsible for the annual portfolio, for reporting to the Cabinet and for the committee's external representation.
• Faculty (5), appointed by the President from the open call, representing a breadth of academic disciplines.
• Staff (4), appointed by the President from the open call, representing administrative units including information technology, research administration, data privacy and legal affairs and university operations.
• Students (2), one graduate and one undergraduate, nominated through an open call including Associated Students. These appointments are distinct from the paid AI Fellows.
• MPPs (1) appointed by the president representing an area not already addressed by the Ex-officio or co-chairs.  
• Ex-officio members from the University Library and CFETI, People and Culture and the Division of ITS.

General terms for the appointment include: 

• A renewable appointment for one academic year.
• A common orientation to AI within the first month of service.
• Expectation that members serve as a project director and/or on the Subcommittee on Standards and Practice.
• Expectation that members sit on the panel that reviews proposals.
  Ad hoc members and guests may participate at the invitation of the co-chairs.

6. Scope and Relationship to Other University Bodies

The committee's advisory role is defined in relation to the following bodies and authorities.

Governance. The President will chair a new AI Governance Taskforce, which will focus on high-level university standards for the adoption and use of AI. The committee conducts its work within those standards and forwards its findings to the taskforce as recommendations. A designated liaison serves both bodies.

Policy. Academic policy governing AI rests with shared governance and Academic Senate committees continue that work. The committee does not write policy. It provides insight on policy through evidence drawn from its projects and moves that to the appropriate committee on campus for further review and potential implementation.

Faculty development. Faculty development related to AI in teaching is the responsibility of CFETI, which holds a seat on the committee. The committee's instructional products, including the AI Best Practices Repository, transfer to CFETI and the University Library for ongoing stewardship.

Staff development. Staff development related to AI in university operations is the responsibility of People and Culture, which holds a seat on the committee. The committee's operational products, including staff training pathways and the procedures developed for administrative use, transfer to People and Culture for ongoing stewardship.

Academic freedom and protection of student information. Projects involving instruction, student records, or human subjects remain subject to the university review processes that would otherwise apply, including review by the Institutional Review Board where applicable. Participation in a committee project confers no exemption from those processes.

7. Meetings, Reporting and Transparency

The committee shall meet monthly from September through May. Bi-weekly project-specific meetings will be held with the co-chairs of the committee. Findings and recommendations are presented to the President and Cabinet at the close of each semester and to the Council of Deans annually. The charge, the approved portfolio, the project reports and artifacts and the annual report are maintained on the President's AI webpage. Members of the university community may review the committee's work and request to participate in a project.

8. Expected Outcomes

By the close of the academic year, the committee anticipates documented improvements in university practice or practices that enhance the teaching, learning and scholarly environment on campus,  a cohort of students with completed project work they are able to present, a set of written procedures derived from actual cases rather than from anticipation and a single public record of the work available to the university community.

9. Review and Amendment

The co-chairs review this charge with the President each spring and recommend amendments for the following academic year.

Advisory Committee Membership

President Teniente-Matson is seeking nominations for membership on the committee for the 2026-27 academic year. This call will fill five faculty seats and four staff seats. The two student seats are nominated through Associated Students, and paid AI Fellow positions will be announced separately.

Please submit all nominations and self-nominations to crist.khachikian@sjsu.edu by September 11, 2026. Submissions must contain the nominee's full name, email address, department/unit and status (faculty, staff or student).