Mission, Vision, Values, Strategic Plan, & Position on AI

We value the inherent worth, dignity, and agency of the individuals with whom we work, learn, and serve. We:  

• Prioritize compassion, empathy, and ethical care.  
• Respect the diverse backgrounds and experiences that shape all lives. 
• Create an environment where all belong. 

We share our expertise, research, and professional energy generously. We:  

• Collaborate dynamically in research and practice.
• Share findings widely with scientific communities and the public. 
• Actively meet the needs of all learners. 
• Advocate for equitable practices and policies. 

We value new insights that challenge our current ways of thinking and doing. We: 

• Embrace multiple points of view.  
• Encourage curiosity and open inquiry.  
• Push boundaries to promote adaptation and change.  
• Harness innovative technologies and solutions. 

We continuously review our research, teaching, service, and practice activities to ensure that we: 

• Lead our fields in innovation and improvement. 
• Meet and exceed the highest quality standards. 
• Uphold ethical practice and integrity.
• Rely on evidence-based findings in support of our work. 

CHHS aims to be the first-choice destination for excellence in education, training, and development in health and human services throughout one’s professional career. 

Objectives: 

• Attract, support, and retain learners from different backgrounds and at all levels of the professional lifespan by delivering best-in-class undergraduate, graduate, and professional development programs.
• Develop and adapt high quality academic programs of study that meet current and future workforce needs.
• Integrate cutting-edge technology, equipment, and facilities with robust faculty pedagogical development to support exceptional learning environments.
• Amplify the impacts of faculty and staff as exceptional professionals in the discovery sciences and distinguished practitioners in their fields.
• Enhance recognition of faculty, staff, and student leadership in professional organizations and nation-leading academic networks.

Sustain and grow community partnerships in research, service, practice, and workforce development to be the preferred partner throughout New Hampshire and the New England region. 

Objectives: 

• Optimize structures and systems across the college to support engagement and partnership opportunities, including raising awareness, conducting activities, and measuring and communicating impact.
• Strengthen collaborations that lead to measurable outcomes and positive impacts on the state and region’s well-being.
• Foster new collaborations with community partners resulting in an increase in student clinical and experiential learning opportunities, research, practice, and service.
• Annually recognize and reward collaborative efforts that positively impact the State of New Hampshire and beyond.

Nurture a dynamic and productive research culture that generates new knowledge to improve the well-being of individuals, families, and communities while enhancing national recognition of CHHS. 

Objectives:

• Launch a high-quality PhD program that aligns with areas of research strength.
• Strengthen opportunities for undergraduate and master’s students to engage in research.
• Enhance faculty and staff research training and mentorship, ensuring ongoing professional development and research excellence.
• Optimize research administration processes and supports to facilitate grants and contracts development, management, compliance, and reporting.
• Enhance national research visibility and impact by disseminating scholarly work broadly, communicating our impact externally, increasing staff, student, and faculty leadership roles in scientific organizations, growing external recognition by awards or fellowships.

Develop supporting structures and operations to cultivate a collaborative approach that yields robust interprofessional efforts. 

Objectives:

• Identify existing strengths and areas of opportunities internally and externally to most effectively promote interprofessional collaboration.
• Build robust structures that support, recognize, and reward collaborative, interprofessional efforts.
• Integrate sustainable interprofessional education experiences into core curricula.
• Increase interprofessional scholarly and scientific outcomes that improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities.

Embody our core values to strive for a culture of belonging where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. 

Objectives:

• Collaborate across UNH to integrate health and well-being into our culture, with a focus on building resilience, engagement, and life enhancing skills.
• Incorporate CHHS’ values into communications and visually represent them in common spaces so all CHHS community members contribute to keeping the values in action.
• Expand and formalize mentorship and leadership programs across CHHS for faculty, staff, and students.
• Foster regular shared spaces and experiences to build a sense of connection and community across all of CHHS.

1. Human-Centered Approach: 
   1. AI use should augment, but not replace, human judgment, empathy, and professional expertise in health and human services.
   2. CHHS advocates for decision-making authority and responsibility remaining with trained professionals, with AI serving as an adjunct to improve accuracy, efficiency, and insight.
2. Equity and Access: 
   1. CHHS is committed to AI integration that reduces disparities in access to education and care, addressing barriers such as digital literacy, cost, and availability.
   2. CHHS endorses critical assessment of potential biases in AI systems to ensure inclusive design.
3. Transparency and Accountability: 
   1. CHHS promotes responsible AI use grounded in academic integrity and ethical practice.
   2. Strict standards of data security, confidentiality, and compliance with federal and state regulations (HIPAA, FERPA, etc.) should govern AI-related work.
   3. CHHS is committed to safeguarding individual privacy and encourages the community to be aware of risks of data misuse.

The following use cases illustrate how CHHS translates these guiding principles into practice across teaching, research, clinical and professional practice, and service.

Teaching

1. AI literacy is cultivated as faculty, staff, and students collaboratively develop shared understanding of AI through inclusive dialogue, ongoing experimentation, and reciprocal learning.
   1. Curricula emphasize responsible use, critical evaluation, and interprofessional collaboration around AI and other emerging technologies.

Research and Scholarship 

1. Faculty, students, and staff are encouraged to explore AI in research and scholarship, while respecting ethical boundaries. 
   1. AI literacy in research and scholarship is cultivated by generating, applying, and critically evaluating knowledge about AI.

Professional and Clinical Practice

1. Students graduate with literacy in AI applications relevant to their fields.
   1. AI integration into clinical and professional education and practice enhances, but does not replace, reasoning, documentation, and decision-making.
   2. Faculty, staff, and students critically evaluate AI-supported tools for accuracy, ethical implications, and client safety, ensuring that human expertise and therapeutic relationships remain central to care and service delivery.

Community Engagement and Service

1. In integrating AI within CHHS, we continue to uphold our commitment to serving communities with integrity, compassion, and respect.
   1. CHHS uses AI to enhance outreach, advocacy, policy development, and resource delivery in ways that strengthen community partnerships, expand access to care, and promote social justice in health and human services.

Because AI is an evolving field, CHHS will review this position statement annually and update its practices to reflect new ethical challenges, regulatory frameworks, and technological advancements. 

Developed and edited by the CHHS AI Team (Karen Collins, Lisa Owen, Laura Gonnerman, Forrest Schwartz, Marguerite Corvini, Eugenia Opuda); endorsed 9/14/2026 by the CHHS Executive Committee