CAILA Welcomes Sean O’Brien as Inaugural AI Expert-in-Residence
We are excited to welcome UMW alum Sean O’Brien to campus in Spring 2026 to serve as our expert-in-residence. Find out more on this page.
About the Center for AI and the Liberal Arts
Our Mission
The University of Mary Washington (UMW) Center for AI and the Liberal Arts serves as a hub for interdisciplinary learning and research, bringing together faculty and students from computer science, humanities, social sciences, arts, and other fields to explore AI’s applications and implications in a liberal arts context. Our mission is to integrate AI into UMW’s liberal arts framework, ensuring students not only develop technical skills but also critically examine the ethical, cultural, and societal dimensions of AI.
The Challenge We Address
As an evolving technology, AI raises complex questions about ethics, values, and human impact – questions that liberal arts fields are adept at examining. In today’s AI landscape, there continues to be a need for people who understand non-technical aspects of AI, its limitations, and how it can be developed and implemented ethically across different industries. It’s not enough to have engineers who can build AI systems; we also need thinkers who can critique those systems, policymakers who grasp their societal implications, artists and writers who explore their influence on culture, and ethical leaders who ensure technology serves the common good.
Why UMW?
UMW’s core values and strategic goals strongly support the creation of a Center for AI and the Liberal Arts. As stated in our mission, UMW is “one of Virginia’s outstanding public liberal arts universities, providing a superior education that inspires and enables our students to make positive changes in the world.” UMW’s strategic vision and recent curricular reforms explicitly emphasize interdisciplinary learning, digital literacy, and adaptation to emerging technologies. In 2017, UMW adopted a strategic goal of “adapting the liberal arts to an age of accelerations and a global digital environment.”
UMW’s existing programs and resources provide a strong foundation to build upon. The university offers a wide range of majors and minors spanning the liberal arts and sciences, including a Computer Science major (with a Data Science minor) and a Communication and Digital Studies program, which serve as key partners to the center.
Our Impact
For Students
From an employability standpoint, an interdisciplinary grounding in AI gives students a distinctive edge. Employers in nearly every sector are beginning to value knowledge of AI and data, but they also urgently need employees who can think critically, communicate effectively, and consider the ethical implications. Students exposed to this combination can market themselves as well-rounded candidates who can bridge the gap between technical teams and broader business or social concerns.
For Faculty
The center provides a structure and resources for faculty who are interested in incorporating technology into their teaching or pursuing interdisciplinary research. It offers research grants, assistance with guest lecturers, training, and support for integrating AI tools into their disciplines, as well as opportunities for collaborative research projects.
For the Institution
Establishing this center positions UMW as a national leader among public liberal arts universities in addressing the challenges and opportunities of AI. As UMW students, faculty and staff are forward-thinking and proactive in approaching AI, our classes, methods, and work evolve to keep our liberal arts mission relevant and dynamic. Through partnerships with COPLAC institutions and other universities across Virginia, UMW can share innovative AI integration strategies, best practices, and collaborative research opportunities, helping to advance AI literacy and ethical implementation throughout the broader academic community.
Our Vision for the Future
The intersection of AI and the liberal arts is a two-way street: AI provides new horizons for liberal learning, and the liberal arts provide the conscience and creative insight for AI. The center formalizes this synergy at UMW, ensuring our students and faculty are not just spectators of the AI revolution, but active, thoughtful participants shaping its trajectory.
Join us in shaping a future where technology and human wisdom evolve together, helping to redefine liberal arts education for the 21st century and beyond.
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