Michelle Malinovsky is once again helping Onondaga Community College - and the State University of New York system - figure out what comes next in the rapidly changing world of artificial intelligence.
Malinovsky is a Professor and Librarian who has been selected for the second consecutive year as a SUNY AI for the Public Good Fellow. She is one of 11 faculty and staff members from across SUNY chosen for the 2026 cohort, and the only librarian selected this year. “I am unbelievably humbled and honored. We have more STEM people this time, and I'm excited to get different perspectives.”
The second cohort will build on the work of last year’s fellows, with a particular focus on helping faculty explore and integrate AI into their individual disciplines. The timing is significant: beginning this fall, SUNY’s general education framework incorporates AI into the information literacy skills expected of all undergraduate students.
For Malinovsky, that means the conversation about AI has evolved. “I think we've all come to varying levels of acceptance, more than we were before. I think there's more knowledge and awareness than what there was before, but I also think there's new fears both from students, faculty, and humanity as a whole.”
As a librarian, Malinovsky has advised students to question information and verify what they find. AI presents a new version of that challenge. "We've been teaching for a year, two years, ‘don't trust AI. It's going to be wrong, it's going to hallucinate, it's going to make mistakes. And yes, that still happens. But increasingly it's getting things right.”
That raises a new question, she said: “How do we as information consumers, as faculty, teach students those same basic information literacy questions? How do we verify information wherever it comes from?” At OCC, those questions are already becoming part of the campus conversation.
Malinovsky continues to serve on the College’s AI Community of Practice, led by Chief of Staff Julie Hart, which helps employees explore practical and time-saving ways to use AI in their daily work. Her role is to serve as a conduit between faculty and college leadership.
The College also will host an AI speaker series throughout the 2026-27 academic year, with sessions for faculty and staff followed by informal “Something to Chew On” debriefs. OCC is also exploring additional professional development opportunities to help employees better understand AI and its implications.
Malinovsky and Professor Christian Heisler have also created an open educational resource textbook on information literacy and generative AI that has been integrated into every ENG-103 course shell in D2L.
For students, Malinovsky said the goal is not to choose between banning AI and allowing students to use it without limits. “How do we navigate helping students understand how to use it effectively, responsibly, without offloading their own cognitive thinking ability and critical thinking? How do we help students understand their own intrinsic value of learning something for themselves?”
That approach builds on work completed by last year’s AI Fellows, who developed a five-step framework to help faculty determine where and how AI can appropriately be incorporated into assignments rather than relying on either a blanket ban or a free-for-all.
The schedule for the on-campus AI Speaker series is below:
- September 25, 2026 – Dr. Stephen Aguilar, Associate Professor at the USC Rossier School of Education who leads USC's Center for Generative AI and Society. 9am staff session in Coulter 116, 12pm faculty session in Mawhinney 345.
- October 30, 2026 - Dr. Melanie Hibbert, Director of Academic Technology & Learning Innovation Services and the Sloate Media Center at Barnard College, Columbia University. 9am Staff session in Coulter 116, 12pm Faculty session in Coulter 116.
- December 2, 2026 - Dr. Samuel Abramovich, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the Graduate School of Education at the University at Buffalo and serves as the UB Micro-Credential Faculty Fellow. 9am Staff session in Whitney 210, 12pm Faculty session in Mawhinney 345.
- March 5, 2027 - Allison Hosier, Head of Information Literacy at the University at Albany. 9am Staff session in Coulter 116, 12pm Faculty session in Mawhinney 345.
- April 30, 2027 - Emily Laird, AI Integration Technologist at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. 9am Staff session in Coulter 116, 12pm Faculty session in Coulter 116.
