Virginia Humanities Conference

“The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in the Humanities”

March 21-22, 2024

THURSDAY MARCH 21

9:30: Opening Remarks
9:45: Welcome from Dr. Bill Fiege, President of Brightpoint Community College

SESSION #1 10:15-11:45
Moderator: TBA
• Dr. Shahidur Talukdar, Virginia Tech, Dr. Lisa Lee, Virginia Tech, and Dr. Christen Jandreau, Virginia Tech, “Does Generative Artificial Intelligence Pose a Threat to the Humanities?”
• Dr. Lee Pierson, Thinking Skills Institute, “Is Artificial General Intelligence Already a Reality?: Refocusing, Centaurs, and the Need for the Humanities”
• Ryan Scott, Brightpoint Community College, “The Ethical Implications of Integrating AI and Healthcare”

KEYNOTE ADDRESS 12:00-1:30
Dr. Jennifer Rhee, Lab Director of the AI Futures Lab within the Humanities Center at Virginia Commonwealth University, “Emotion AI: Technologies of Deauthorization”

SESSION #2 1:45-3:15
Moderator: Dr. Sean Keck, Radford University
• Dina Smith-Glaviana, Caleb McIrvin, Chreston Miller, and Wen Nie Ng, Virginia Tech, “Using AI to Expand Metadata Standards for Historic Costume Collections”
• Dr. Joseph Dreiss, University of Mary Washington, “The Impact of AI on Contempoary Visual Art: An Overview and an Assessment of Value”
• Dr. Maria L. De Panbehchi, Brightpoint Community College, “What do we do with AI in the foreign language classroom?”

FRIDAY MARCH 22

SESSION #3 9:00-10:30
Moderator: Dr. Shiva Mainaly, North Dakota University
• Dr. Adrian Cook, Tarrant County College, “Experience is Evidence: Why I Will Ban ChatGPT in My Classroom”
• Dr. Jean Filetti, Christopher Newport University, “Using AI-Generated Assessment of Student Writing: One Faculty Member’s Experience and Students’ Response”
• Ryan Youell, Brightpoint Community College, “Equitable AI—Navigating the Ethical Landscape of AI in Composition Pedagogy”

SESSION #4 10:45-12:15
Moderator: Dr. Clayton Brooks, Mary Baldwin University
• Dr. Dawn Hutchinson, Christopher Newport University, “Conversations in the Classroom about AI”
• Dr. Sue Ann Curran, Brightpoint Community College, “The Logic and Promise of AI in Higher Education”
• Dr. Shahidur Talukdar, Virginia Tech, Md Mahim Anjum Haque, Luminary-AI, Syed Tauhidun Nabi, Virginia Tech, and Sagor Sikdar, Stony Brook University, “Impact of Technology on the Future of Course Development, Design, and Delivery”

SESSION #5A (Concurrent) 12:30-2:00
Moderator: Dr. Sean Keck, Radford University
• Dr. Shoshana Milgram Knapp, Virginia Tech, “Reading with Understanding: Getting to the Point with AI, without AI, and despite AI”
• Dr. Adam Fajardo, Mary Baldwin University, “Using LLMs to Increase StudentEngagement and Support Active Learning in Professional Writing Courses”
• Dr. Shiva Mainaly, North Dakota University, “A Looming Prospect of Post-plagiarism and Post-truth Landscape in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)”

SESSION #5B (Concurrent) 12:30-2:00
Moderator: Amanda Yanovitch, Brightpoint Community College
• Student Panel, Virginia’s Colleges and Universities, “Undergraduate Voices Across the Commonwealth”

SESSION #6 2:15-3:45
Delegate Meeting

Proposal submission deadline in now

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in the Humanities

DATE: Thursday March 21 & Friday March 22, 2024

The conference will be held entirely online.

Technology has always been a catalyst for modes of self-expression and communication. Artificial intelligence presents a new set of challenges. Technology is no longer just a tool used to create, but it has become its own means of creation. As AI learns to generate content, humans struggle to find ways to harness it in our courses and businesses. Artificial intelligence simultaneously enhances and challenges arenas of human inspiration and creativity, such as literature, art, and music – hallmarks of the Humanities. As AI becomes more capable of generating such content, how will humans respond? Will AI improve our lives or is it a tool that must be regulated?

Artificial intelligence has had an ever-increasing impact on the Humanities. The influx of technology stimulates dynamic conversations and provokes the exploration of new practices within the unfolding possibilities of the Humanities. Those within the Humanities are faced with the reality of how, not if, we will respond to this new technology. The various fields that fall within the Humanities are related by their ability to coalesce and express the human experience. Can that expression be replicated through AI? ChatGPT and other emerging technologies have left humans struggling to differentiate between human work and that of AI. Schools and businesses, recognizing a cultural shift happening around us, must now debate new policies and procedures.

The Virginia Humanities Conference invites you to join our discussion about the role of artificial intelligence in the Humanities. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and professionals are welcome to attend and present. The conference intends to offer sessions on conceptual discussions of artificial intelligence as well as practical guides and “best practices” when engaging artificial intelligence.

Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Jennifer Rhee. Dr. Rhee is the Lab Director of the AI Futures Lab within the Humanities Research Center at Virginia Commonwealth University where she also serves as an associate professor in the Department of English and the Media, Art, and Text Ph.D. Program. She’s written about robotics and artificial intelligence in technology, visual and performance art, literature, and film in her book The Robotic Imaginary: The Human and the Price of Dehumanized Labor (University of Minnesota Press, 2018). She’s been awarded an American Council of Learned Societies fellowship for 2019 to 2020 to support her book project on digital counting technologies, race, and art. Her scholarship and teaching are in the areas of speculative fiction studies, literature and science, feminist science and technology studies, critical AI studies, and ecocritical media studies.

The conference welcomes submissions for presentations that engage the following topics:

• How has the Humanities responded to emerging technologies involving artificial intelligence?
• How will the Humanities need to adapt to the various developments in artificial intelligence?
• Do artificial intelligence generative tools pose a threat to the Humanities? Has technology encroached too far into areas long claimed by the Humanities?
• How has artificial intelligence been utilized within the Humanities? What are strategies and ideas to accomplish are on the horizon?
• In what ways are STEM and Humanities fields each challenged by artificial intelligence?
• How has machine learning and AI tools been harnessed? What are the next steps for its application?
• How do technological tools offer new avenues and interpretations of human art and literature?
• How does technology impact the future of course development, design, and/or delivery?
• Topics for roundtable discussions of ongoing trends regarding artificial intelligence in the Humanities.
• Best practices when engaging artificial intelligence in your field. How have you successfully navigated the use of artificial intelligence?
• Other topics related to the rise and impact of artificial intelligence in Humanities-related fields.

Send your proposal to Kevin Vaccarella (kvaccarella@brightpoint.edu) by February 1, 2024. Awards are given for the best paper in three categories: professional, graduate student, and undergraduate student.

There is a sliding scale of registration fees. The VHC relies entirely on registrations and institutional memberships to continue, so we appreciate your support!

• Institution fee: $200 (covers the attendance of one delegate per institution)
• Faculty and Professional fee: $25
• Undergraduate student fee: $15