Foothill College
Region: Bay Area
Foothill College's Academic Senate launched an AI Fellows program in 2025 (led by VP of Instruction Dr. Stacy Gleixner and Dean Zach Cembellin) that contributes to districtwide AI planning, policy recommendations, and equity-minded community forums, while the college's Emerging Technologies Institute runs an interdisciplinary AI Learning Community informing shared-governance bodies. The Senate has been developing faculty AI-use-in-classes guidelines since fall 2024, and Student Affairs drafted an Academic Integrity AI Use statement tying AI misuse to the Honor Code; both policies remained in development as of mid-2025. Foothill added a transferable PHIL 15 Ethics in AI course (Summer 2025), partnered with Silicon Valley Leadership Group's I-CAP on an AI/ML curriculum framework (whitepaper June 2025), and received a $25,000 Infosys Foundation grant for digital-workforce AI training.
Updated Scan Findings
6 new 🆕· 13 source-verified findings from the updated web scan- 🆕AI Fellows program (Academic Senate). Foothill's Academic Senate launched an AI Fellows program; the 2026 AI Fellows team (formed with VP of Instruction Dr. Stacy Gleixner and Dean Zach Cembellin, plus Kayla Nguyen, Maria Blaze, Vanessa Santillan-Nieto) contributes to districtwide AI planning, institutional policy recommendations, equity-minded community forums, and campuswide AI literacy. A dedicated AI Fellows page exists at foothill.edu/gov/academic-senate/ai/ (currently 'under construction'). 2025 · medium confidence — source
- AI Learning Community. Foothill's ETI runs an interdisciplinary AI Learning Community (started Summer 2023 by STEM Dean Zach Cembellin, chemistry instructor Robert Cormia, and humanities instructor Mona Rawal) of students, faculty (incl. from other districts), staff, alumni and community members; its discussions inform shared-governance groups (Academic Senate, Classified Senate, MIP-C), with meetings continuing into Dec 2025. 2025 · high confidence — source
- FHDA district AI Working Group & AI Hub (serving Foothill). The Foothill-De Anza district maintains an AI Hub and an Artificial Intelligence Working Group (a subgroup of the Educational Technology Advisory Committee) of faculty, administrators, technical experts and students that reviews AI applications/ethics, informs district AI policies and procedures, and develops workshops/resources; published district guidance documents include 'AI Use & Adoption Considerations,' 'AI in Higher Education: An End-User Guidebook for Employees,' and 'Internal Criteria for Evaluating AI Tools/Platforms.' 2025 · high confidence — source
- Academic Senate developing AI-use-in-classes guidelines. Foothill's Academic Senate has been actively developing faculty guidelines for AI use in classes since fall 2024 (documents 'AI Use in Classes - Faculty Input' filed Oct/Nov 2024), with faculty input on whether/how to set syllabus-level AI guidelines; a finalized college-wide policy was still in development as of mid-2025. 2024-2025 · medium confidence — source
- Draft Student Affairs Academic Integrity AI Use Statement. Foothill's Student Affairs prepared a draft Academic Integrity 'AI Use' statement reviewed by the Academic Senate (Dec 2024 agenda), tying AI misuse (e.g., uncited AI text, fabricated citations) to the college's Academic Integrity Honor Code. Fall 2024 · medium confidence — source
- 🆕PHIL 15: Ethics in Artificial Intelligence. Foothill's course catalog lists PHIL 15 'Ethics in Artificial Intelligence' (4 units, CSU/UC transferable, GE Area 3), effective Summer 2025, covering algorithmic bias, privacy, accountability, autonomous-system ethics, AI and copyright, and governance frameworks. Summer 2025 · high confidence — source
- 🆕SVLG / I-CAP AI & machine-learning curriculum framework. Foothill College faculty collaborated with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group's Institute for California AI Policy (I-CAP) to research, develop and implement an AI/machine-learning community-college curriculum during the 2024-25 academic year; a joint whitepaper was published June 12, 2025, with the Foothill-De Anza district named as partner (Chancellor Lee Lambert quoted). 2025 · high confidence — source
- 🆕Infosys Foundation USA Digital Workforce Innovation Program ($25,000). Foothill College was selected (announced Oct 13, 2025) as one of six higher-ed recipients of the Infosys Foundation USA Digital Workforce Innovation Program, receiving $25,000 plus an 18-month cohort with coaching, mentorship and access to the Infosys Springboard platform's 11K-course repository covering emerging technologies including AI, cloud, data analytics and cybersecurity. 2025 · high confidence — source
- 🆕2025 Foothill Innovation Challenge themed on AI & Education. The May 2025 Foothill Innovation Challenge ('Shark Tank'-style finals May 29, 2025) focused on AI and Education, producing student AI startups such as TOPIQ (AI study support for neurodivergent students) and SayMore (AI support for international students). The subsequent 2026 challenge shifted to a 'Design for Social Good' theme. 2025 · high confidence — source
- 🆕AI x VC panel co-hosted with Menlo College. On Feb 19, 2026, Foothill College co-hosted the 'AI x VC: Redefining the Value of the Future' panel at its Los Altos Hills campus; Foothill's Startup Club partnered with Menlo College's Investing Club on the event examining how AI is transforming venture capital. 2026 · high confidence — source
- Generative AI Literacy library research guide. The Foothill-De Anza Library maintains a Generative AI Literacy LibGuide (adapted from Georgetown University Library under CC BY-NC) covering ethics, hallucinations/bias, privacy, attribution, and academic integrity, directing students to the Foothill Academic Integrity Honor Code and to check course syllabi/instructors. undated · high confidence — source
- ETI Artificial Intelligence Lab (Room 4311). Foothill's Emerging Technologies Institute (ETI, established Summer 2022) operates an AI Lab in Room 4311 where students of any major test AI/machine-learning tools, robotics, sensors and automation, and receive demonstrations, training, and guided workshops; the AI Lab is one of several ETI technology labs. 2025 · high confidence — source
- District-deployed AI tools (Zoom AI Companion; Lightleap.ai pilot). The FHDA district (which includes Foothill) has deployed Zoom AI Companion to all employees with district Zoom accounts (meeting transcription/notes) and is piloting Lightleap.ai, a higher-ed AI search tool, through the end of the fiscal year. 2025 · high confidence — source
Spring 2025 baseline
AI-Engaged People, Processes & Timelines
- Mar 2023 ChatGPT Campus Forum: Foothill President Bernadine Fong and Psychology instructor Benjamin Stefonik, addressed ChatGPT and generative artificial intelligence (AI).
- ChatGPT Forum Presentation Slides
- ChatGPT Survey_Faculty Responses
- ChatGPT Survey_Student Responses
- Oct 2024 AI Use in Classes: Creating Guidelines for Appropriate AI Use
- Nov 2024 Student Affairs Academic Integrity AI Us Presentation
- Foothill College ETI
- Foothill College AI Lab
- The AI Lab, along with 6 other Technology Labs, plus the ProtoLab (Prototype Lab), make up the Emerging Technologies Institute (ETI).
- Learn about all the ETI labs here.
AI Policies
- District policy appears under development, college site references instructor policies in current student-facing resources:
- Foothill AI Policy
AI Courses, Tools & Resources
- Academic Integrity and ChatGPT
- Citing ChatGPT Library Guide
- ChatGPT Resources for Faculty
- Foothill College Health instructor, Sally Baldwin, created a Canvas site with excellent resources, including syllabus policy examples and examples of college-wide academic integrity policies. Access the course here: https://foothillcollege.instructure.com/enroll/WJMWCW
- Both Foothill & DeAnza Colleges had participating representation in PlayLab in November Inaugural cohort with UC Berkeley
- Foothill College -Hosting BACCC RJV workshop on March 7th, 2025, Navigating AI together a Bay Area Community College Unconference “Conversations about the challenges and opportunities presented by AI and exploration of how we can collaborate to address them”
Entities from the knowledge graph
Links & artifacts
- https://www.eventbrite.com/e/navigating-ai-together-a-bay-area-community-college-unconference-tickets-1231783340129 fetched
- https://foothillcollege.instructure.com/enroll/WJMWCW fetched
- https://libguides.fhda.edu/cite fetched
- https://libguides.fhda.edu/c.php?g=1301397&p=9562811 fetched
- https://libguides.fhda.edu/c.php?g=1301397&p=9564994 fetched
- https://libguides.fhda.edu/generativeai dead
- https://www.deanza.edu/clubs/documents/clubconstitutions/Artificial-Intelligence-World-Club-Constitution.docx blocked
Contacts at this college
| Name / Role | Phone | |
|---|---|---|
SB Sally Baldwin Health Instructor | baldwinsally@foothill.edu | (707) 688-6022 |
BF Bernadine Fong President | fongbernadine@fhda.edu | |
BS Benjamin Stefonik Psychology Instructor | stefonikben@fhda.edu | (650) 949-7473 |