TRUly listening

November 28, 2025

The Special Advisor to the President on Artificial Intelligence sets direction for how TRU approaches AI by creating the conditions that enable our community to innovate responsibly, safely, and with confidence. The role connects community insight to leadership decision-making and turns shared values into practical guidance.

The first 90 days focus on building the foundation. This work is structured in three phases:

• First 30 Days: Divergent
  The first 30 days focused on listening and learning across the university. This divergent phase surfaced ideas, concerns, and opportunities from students, faculty, administrators, and staff.
• Next 30: Convergent
  The next 30 days will focus on convergence – synthesizing what was heard, setting priorities, and translating insights into a clear, actionable plan.
• Final 90: Alignment
  The final phase will focus on alignment – sharing direction broadly, refining it with feedback, and ensuring any plan stays true to TRU’s values, strategy (Envision TRU), and academic priorities (TRU Bold).

Below are the findings from the first 30 Days.

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30 days of listening

Thank you to everyone who supported the AI landscape-mapping exercise. In just four weeks, we engaged with:

• 70+ conversations
• 140+ survey responses
• 200+ dot-votes

Participation ranged from 15-20% across students, faculty, administrators, and staff. To ensure accessibility and inclusivity, we offered multiple ways to participate, including 1:1 conversations, group sessions, union-led discussions, TRU Talk events, TRU Connect updates, and surveys in both virtual and live environments.

Thank you. Your perspectives provide a strong foundation for the next phases.

Role-based perspectives

Across TRU, adoption and sentiment vary, especially by role:

• Students: Most polarized views – high interest in exploring AI alongside concerns about ethics (especially in the arts) and environmental impact.
• Administrators: High enthusiasm and moderate comfort, focusing on operational efficiency and strategic alignment.
• Faculty: Mixed feelings and lower comfort, driven by concerns about academic integrity and teaching impacts.
• CUPE members: Moderate sentiment and low comfort, emphasizing job security, uncertainty about where to start, and the need for ethical safeguards.​

Core themes

Three core themes emerged across TRU:

1. Cautious optimism: People are curious about AI’s potential, but unclear expectations are creating frustration. There is a strong desire for guidance and confidence.
2. Strong appetite for practical, responsible use: There is high interest in using AI to improve efficiency and support students – but people want skills, guidance, and guardrails to do it well.
3. Trust, integrity, and responsible use matter deeply: Concerns around academic integrity, job security, and environmental impact underscore the need for shared principles and transparent communication. Trust-building is non-negotiable.

Key areas to explore

Our responses highlight seven focus areas for the next phases:

• Urgent: Policy & Guidelines; Training & Literacy
• High importance: Administrative Efficiencies; Student Support & Services
• Notable: Sustainability & Environment; Security, Privacy & Data
• Emerging: Research & Innovation

We also heard concrete suggestions from the community:

• Efficiency and Automation: Streamline administrative processes and reduce repetitive tasks through AI adoption.
• Ethical and Policy Development: Develop policies to ensure responsible and transparent AI use.
• Training and Education: Build AI literacy among faculty, staff, and students through targeted training initiatives.
• Student Support and Sustainability: Enhance student services and address AI’s environmental sustainability impact.

Next steps

We are now entering the Convergent phase, bringing these ideas together into a clear plan and sharing it broadly for feedback.

See results: 30 Days of Discovery – November 2025

Questions? horaizon+andrea@tru.ca