Grants to Support AI Awareness, Resilience, and Literacy Across the Undergraduate Curriculum

Grants to Support AI Awareness, Resilience, and Literacy Across the Undergraduate Curriculum is sponsored by Virginia Tech (Office of Undergraduate Curriculum, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Technology-Enhanced Learning and Online Strategies). This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.

Funding to Support AI Awareness, Resilience, and Literacy Across the Undergraduate Curriculum Funding to Support AI Awareness, Resilience, and Literacy Across the Undergraduate Curriculum | Undergraduate Academic Affairs | Virginia Tech Funding to Support AI Awareness, Resilience, and Literacy Across the Undergraduate Curriculum Generative artificial intelligence is profoundly impacting how people learn, work, participate in society, and make sense of the world.

To support learning while students are in college and prepare them for their future endeavors, it is imperative that our students a) develop AI literacy by exploring the technology in a variety of contexts, b) critically analyze the technology and its impacts on society, c) have opportunities to achieve AI fluency through AI-focused programs that will shape the future of the technology and how it is used, and d) have opportunities to participate in engaging, rich learning environments regardless of whether AI is leveraged or not.

To achieve these goals, students should engage meaningfully with this topic across Pathways General Education, discipline-specific courses, majors, and minors. This engagement should be informed by and aligned with Virginia Tech’s Responsible and Ethical AI Principles .

The Office of Undergraduate Curriculum, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), and Technology-Enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS) are partnering to support instructional faculty in their development of AI-focused courses and programs across the curriculum at Virginia Tech. Please email Stephen Biscotte with any questions.

Purpose of this Funding Call This funding will provide individual faculty or faculty teams with the time, space, guidance, and tools needed to accomplish the following goals for the undergraduate curriculum: develop a new AI-aware, AI-resilient, or AI-centric course, substantially revise and reimagine an existing course to be AI-aware, AI-resilient, or AI-centric or develop and embed AI-pedagogy throughout, create a new AI-aware, AI-resilient, or AI-centric major or minor, or revise an existing major or minor to include a significant AI-aware, AI-resilient, or AI-centric component.

This funding is NOT designed to provide introductory training in AI concepts and tools. For direct faculty support in AI fluency, please explore the many workshops, resources, and consultations available through the TLOS Professional Development Network and the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning . The submission deadline is December 4, 2026.

Comments from Prior Participants "This was a great program and I look forward to engaging with future opportunities regarding the intersection of curriculum development and innovation." "All of the resources I received and the meetings I attended were extremely helpful. Thank you!"

"It was very helpful. I revised my course significantly to the point where it's really a very different course now. It took a lot longer than I expected and I would've been much less likely to go through the entire process if I didn't have some type of financial support because I wouldn't have been able to spend that amount of time on it."

Priority will be given to those who have NOT participated in this AI funding program in the past. The amount of funding will be determined by the specific needs of each proposal, up to a maximum of $5,000 per proposal. Teams are invited to apply with a maximum of $2,500 going to each individual faculty member, also with a maximum of $5,000 per proposal.

Upon completion of the MOU, the funding will be transferred as E&G funds to each awarded department in early February to distribute as needed. This is a course, minor, and major faculty development-focused fudning, so funding would most likely support faculty stipends and/or summer salary.

Subscriptions to AI software, costs that go beyond this fiscal year (June 30), GTA/GA costs, and teaching buyouts or course releases will NOT be funded. Complete this AI Funding Budget Template excel file and submit with your proposal.

Project Support and Awardee Commitments Faculty are expected to engage in the following activities (with support from CETL, TLOS, and UAA) and provide the following deliverables: Participate in meetings with other grantees: A curriculum development kickoff meeting in early February.

This meeting will establish a shared AI vocabulary and project expectations; it will also connect grantees with similar projects in other disciplines and with the support resources needed to accelerate the launch of the project. Two grantee cohort meetings in spring semester (one in March, one in April). An all-grantee cohort gathering at the Summer Institute on May 21, 2027.

Submit a final report that includes a spending breakdown and description of fudning-supported deliverables. Participate in evaluation activities (e.g., observations and student surveys) once the course/program is underway.

Timeline for Funding to Support AI Awareness, Resilience, and Literacy Submission deadline: December 4, 2026 Awardee announcement: by January 15, 2027 MOU process completed and funding transferred to departments: March 1, 2027 Fundee development work: February 2027 to June 30, 2027 Project report due: July 1, 2027 Submit new or revised course, minor, or major to governance: Spring/Fall 2027 If all goes smoothly, offer new or revised course, minor, or major to students: AY 2027/28 or 2028/29 Proposal Form and Materials Applications can be submitted through this Funding to Support AI Awareness, Resilience, and Literacy Proposal Form .

As part of your proposal, please download this AI Funding Budget Template Excel file , fill out your requested budget (see an example on the second tab of the Excel spreadsheet), and upload the file along with your application. To draft your responses first, feel free to use this Microsoft Word version of the Proposal Form .

You can then copy and paste your responses into the AI Undergraduate Curriculum Funding Proposal Form when you are ready to submit. Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) Office of Undergraduate Curriculum within Undergraduate Academic Affairs Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS)