Six regional community colleges recently attended the biannual Western New York Community College AI Consortium.
The meeting was hosted by Jamestown Community College on its Cattaraugus County campus.
More than 40 participants discussed effectively implementing and expanding artificial intelligence use on their campuses.
Colleges represented include Erie Community College; Finger Lakes Community College; Genesee Community College; Jamestown Community College; Monroe Community College; and Niagara Community College. The consortium first met in October 2025 at Genesee Community College.
JCC President Dr. Daniel DeMarte said, “Artificial intelligence is reshaping how community colleges serve students, and gatherings like this one make clear that our region is approaching that challenge thoughtfully and collaboratively.”
Leaders from each college shared how they are incorporating AI into classrooms and community outreach, including new training programs for faculty and students, workforce development, and longer-term institutional planning.
The next meeting of the Western New York College College AI Consortium will be hosted at SUNY Niagara in October.
JCC has taken a formalized approach to artificial intelligence, publishing a position statement built around five guiding principles — innovation, ethics, equity and access, training, and sustainability — which the Board of Trustees officially endorsed in 2025. The college’s AI policies and procedures continue to evolve, with the goal of aligning tools and resources to improve student success.
On the data and analytics front, JCC is developing a real-time dashboard to provide instant access to enrollment, retention, and completion data. The college has also invested in Evisions Argos, a reporting and analytics platform, that will serve as the foundation for dashboards, predictive analytics, and faster data-informed decision-making for faculty and staff.
Guiding the overall effort at JCC is an artificial intelligence task force, established in fall 2024, which continues to shape implementation and policy. Faculty have access to AI syllabi statements, and a comprehensive internal AI training plan for faculty, staff, and students is currently being drafted. The college has also adopted an institutional AI policy aligned with Middle States Commission on Higher Education accreditation requirements, which was board-approved last fall.
JCC is also part of New York state’s Empire AI initiative, a consortium of 11 campuses across western and central New York anchored by the Empire AI supercomputer at the University at Buffalo. Together, the campuses work to expand access to AI for research and professional development for SUNY students and faculty.
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