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SJC Faculty Retreat Focuses on the Challenges and Opportunities of AI
August 31, 2026 - Edmonton
Shortly before the school year got underway, faculty and sessional lecturers at St. Joseph's College gathered together for the College's annual faculty retreat on August 31st. The retreat gave the 16 attendees (14 in person and 2 via Zoom) a space for community, reflection and a chance to discuss the challenges and opportunities they face as educators in a rapidly changing world.
At the center of this year’s retreat, organized by the Academic Dean’s office, was a discussion on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the role it plays in the teaching and learning of students.
The retreat’s main speaker was Dr. Nancy Bray, Associate Lecturer with the University of Alberta Faculty of Arts - English & Film Studies Department, who has previously published and presented on the topics of AI and teaching. Over the course of her presentations to the group, Dr. Bray emphasized that, in today’s world, the classroom can be the key place where students learn to make prudent judgements about the appropriate and ethical uses of AI.
This aim reflected the central concern of the retreat’s participants, who were especially interested in how the intellectual development and formation of their students can be safeguarded and protected in the age of AI. Throughout the day, the group discussed the nature of education, what it means for a student to truly learn in the classroom and beyond, and to what extent AI can be a help or a hindrance to that end.
“Our mission at SJC is to help students discern truth and build the common good. Critical thinking is necessary for discernment, and building requires diligence, creativity, and innovation. At the retreat, we discussed ways to encourage students to cultivate these God-given abilities, without inhibiting their growth with an overreliance on AI,” said Dr. Lorne Zelyck, Associate Academic Dean and Professor.
The topic of AI is especially pertinent given that it has also become a focus at the highest office of the Catholic Church, with Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, which focuses on preserving the dignity of the human person in a world increasingly dominated by digital and AI-based technologies. As part of the retreat, Dr. Doris Kieser, SJC’s Acting Vice President (Academic) and Dean and Associate Professor, provided a reflection on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical.
Dr. Kieser noted that the pope’s concern that AI’s usage always be framed within the preservation of the common good lines up precisely with the mission of St. Joseph’s College. She hopes the discussions and reflections garnered from the retreat will help educators tackle the reality of AI in a way that preserves the academic integrity of their students.
“Some of the themes that are really important in the encyclical are discernment and the common good, which are also articulated over and over again in the mission of the College - in our mission statement and in how we describe our courses. That question of discernment of the common good is very much a part of what we see ourselves doing as a College,” said Dr. Kieser.
“It’s complex. There’s no one size fits all approach to AI, because different assignments require different things and each professor is at a different level of comfort with AI and what it can and can’t do,” Dr. Kieser continued. “So that’s something we’ve taken away from this day: thinking about how we as a College can, in general, provide some guidance around the use of AI.”
Ultimately, the retreat left SJC’s faculty and sessional lecturers with a sense of hope, seeing that there are tangible ways in which AI’s usage can be properly managed and dealt with in the classroom. The retreat also demonstrated how concern for the intellectual development and formation of students is front and centre in the work of St. Joseph’s College, ensuring that all will find here a place to discern and pursue truth, and to build the common good in a truly human way.
Participants included: (Back row, left to right): Thomas Oberle, Natalie van Nieuwkuyk, Brayden Tate, Fr. Warren Schmidt, Lorne Zelyck, Paul Flaman, Denis Lamoureux, Bryan Clarke, Indre Cuplinskas, Dean Sarnecki. (Front row, left to right): Jordan Robinson, Doris Kieser, Patricia Liogier, Nancy Bray, Tracy Russell, Matthew Kostelecky.
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