This fall, a new microcredential will debut in core business courses at Portland State University. Students will encounter new assignments shaped by emerging tools and have fresh conversations about artificial intelligence, automation, and ethics, culminating in a digital badge in Credly—markers of a collective effort by faculty and staff in the School of Business to reimagine what it means to prepare students for an AI-driven economy.
Integrating AI into business education isn’t just about teaching a new tool—it’s about future-proofing our students.
The new microcredential, AI in Business: Foundations and Applications, will be offered at no cost to students. Modular by design, it has been built to integrate seamlessly within existing courses. It will include hands-on exposure to tools such as Gemini and NotebookLM, focusing on fostering AI fluency—language, context, discernment—in a practical and accessible format.
“I didn’t want to put this information behind a paywall,” said Joleen Mena, who chairs the dean-appointed task force that guided the project over the past year. “This microcredential is an opportunity to give students something valuable—for free.”
A Coalition of the Curious
The microcredential will include hands-on exposure to tools available to PSU students, such as Gemini and NotebookLM.
Faculty curiosity about AI had already been growing. Portland State recently released a guiding philosophy and set of principles for teaching and learning with AI at the university, with guidance on citing AI, security advice, and research guidelines. A survey in the School of Business showed that most instructors were either eager to explore AI but unsure where to start or already experimenting with it in their classrooms.
Rather than navigate the complexity of a full curriculum overhaul, the task force opted to introduce a microcredential, the first of its kind in the college. Unlike a certificate program or a new course sequence, it could live in conjunction with existing academic structures. That decision lowers barriers for both students and instructors and creates space for faculty to innovate without the pressure of a full redesign.
“Integrating AI into business education isn’t just about teaching a new tool—it’s about future-proofing our students,” said Colleen Lee, the school’s director of marketing. “ This microcredential is a model for how we can bridge the gap between academic theory and industry practice in a way that’s both accessible and energizing. It shows that you don’t need to overhaul your entire curriculum to make a meaningful impact. Even a focused, modular experience like this can dramatically boost student confidence and spark deeper academic engagement.”
Faculty from every concentration—accounting, supply chain, marketing—contributed to the process over this last year, shaping content specific to their fields. Conversations ranged from technical application to ethical considerations, business strategy to classroom pedagogy. Terrence Scott, an Instructional Designer in the School of Business, was one of several staff members supporting faculty throughout the process.
Terrence Scott, an Instructional Designer at the School of Business, is one of many collaborators building the new AI microcredential.
The first two classes to pilot the microcredential will be BA 301, a business research class, and BA 325, which focuses on information technology. As the team considered how AI would shift classroom dynamics, questions of assessment emerged as a key consideration. “We may have to rethink how we assess learning,” Mena said. “But that discomfort could push us toward stronger, more authentic teaching.”
Scott agrees: “There’s a lot of alignment between what we're trying to teach and what we say we value in a business school—things like efficiency, innovation, and real-world application. This approach gives faculty a practical way to bring those values into their classrooms through AI.”
Collaborating for change
What emerged from this collaboration is not just a new microcredential—it's a case study in institutional learning. The team worked across disciplines and roles, from tenure-line faculty to instructional support, from marketing to academic leadership. In that sense, AI in Business is as much about culture as content: a shared commitment to try something new, together.
Scott building AI instructional content in Canvas. The first two classes to pilot the microcredential will be BA 301, a business research class, and BA 325, which focuses on information technology.
To support that transition, the School of Business hosted AICon on May 30, a hands-on faculty development event focused on using the tools already available at PSU. “It’s not about introducing a thousand new tools,” Mena said. “It’s about helping faculty feel confident.” And while the microcredential won’t officially launch until fall term, the process behind it has already changed the way many faculty think about teaching.
“This gave us a reason to pause and reflect on what we’re doing in the classroom,” Scott said. “That kind of reflection doesn’t happen often enough. But when it does, it can be transformative.”
Beyond the First Badge
Looking ahead, the AI integration task force sees the credential as just a starting point. Future iterations may explore discipline-specific applications more deeply. Partnerships with the Career Center are already underway to help students communicate their new skills in ways employers understand.
Employers are looking for graduates who can think critically about technology and apply it strategically, and this microcredential signals exactly that.
Reflecting on the value this will bring to PSU students entering the job market, Lee highlights the significance of the effort: “Employers are looking for graduates who can think critically about technology and apply it strategically, and this microcredential signals exactly that. Academically, we anticipate increased engagement as students connect classroom learning to real-world tools, and often discover new interests at the intersection of business and tech. It’s about equipping them to lead in a world where AI is becoming central to every industry.”
It’s a straightforward goal, but one that required thoughtful coordination behind the scenes—and a willingness, across ranks and roles, to move forward without having every answer in place. In doing so, PSU’s School of Business may be building more than just a new microcredential. It may be showing how higher education can evolve—deliberately and responsively—to meet emerging needs.