October 19, 2026
CLEVELAND, Ga. — As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms how organizations operate, compete, and make decisions, Truett McConnell University’s Hans Hut School of Business is taking intentional steps to ensure its graduates are prepared to succeed in an increasingly AI-driven workplace. Rather than treating artificial intelligence simply as a new technology to discuss in the classroom, the School of Business is integrating AI into the educational experience in practical and purposeful ways, giving students opportunities to use emerging tools while developing the critical thinking, ethical discernment and professional judgment necessary to use them responsibly.
One example of this approach is BU 320: Marketing Strategy & AI Applications, a redesigned undergraduate marketing course taught by Dr. Stacy Hall, Professor of Business. AI is integrated throughout the marketing strategy process, allowing students to gain hands-on experience with emerging technologies while applying foundational marketing principles to real-world business challenges.
Throughout the semester, students work with a variety of leading AI platforms, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Canva, NotebookLM, and Gamma. Students apply these technologies to marketing functions such as market research, consumer analysis, segmentation and targeting, customer personas, branding, pricing, customer relationship management, digital marketing, performance measurement, and professional presentations.
The objective, however, extends well beyond simply teaching students how to use AI. “Our students are entering a business environment where knowing how to use artificial intelligence will increasingly be an expectation rather than a differentiator,” Hall said. “We want them to graduate knowing not only how to use these tools, but when to use them, how to evaluate what they produce, and when human judgment must take precedence. I tell my students to think of AI as a calculator. It can make you faster and more capable, but it cannot replace your understanding of the subject, your critical thinking, your ethical judgment, or your responsibility for the final decision.”
A centerpiece of the course is the semester-long Marketing Strategy & AI Portfolio. Students develop a new product or service and progressively build a comprehensive marketing strategy around it. Their projects move from identifying market opportunities and researching consumers to segmentation, targeting and positioning, brand development, product and pricing decisions, distribution, customer relationship management, promotion, digital marketing and performance measurement.
AI is incorporated throughout that process, but students are also required to critically evaluate its work. They document prompts and outputs, refine their approaches, identify weaknesses or errors in AI-generated information, verify important claims using credible non-AI sources, and explain the human reasoning behind their final strategic decisions.
The result is an educational model designed to move students beyond being passive users of artificial intelligence toward becoming informed, discerning, and strategic users of AI in a professional environment. Donavan Parker, a senior in the School of Business, states, “Marketing Strategy with AI Application is an extremely informative course that blends marketing insights while using AI as a tool. Most college courses that I’ve had up to this point have had a negative view on the use of AI. With this course, it has taught me how using AI as a tool can enhance my efficiency, creativity, and insights on anything I’m working on while still using my own thoughts. Marketing Strategy with AI Application will be a useful course for my future career, especially with the rise of AI usage in the workforce.”
The School of Business's emphasis on AI also extends beyond the classroom. Recently, the TMU School of Business Board of Advisors devoted a portion of its meeting to exploring how businesses are currently using artificial intelligence to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness. The discussion provided faculty and business leaders an opportunity to examine current applications of AI in the workplace and consider how rapidly evolving technologies are changing the skills employers expect from college graduates.
Those conversations help create an important connection between the School of Business and the marketplace. Input from business professionals allows faculty to continually evaluate whether curriculum and classroom experiences are preparing students for the realities they will encounter after graduation.
“One of the tremendous benefits of having engaged business leaders advising our School is that they give us a window into what is happening in organizations right now,” said Dr. Kimberly Maiocco, Dean of the College of Professional Studies and Chair of the School of Business. “When business leaders are telling us how AI is changing their operations, improving productivity and influencing the skills they need from employees, we need to be listening. Our goal is to make sure there is a strong connection between what our students experience in the classroom and what will be expected of them when they enter the workforce.”
That commitment reflects a broader, discerning effort within TMU’s School of Business to thoughtfully incorporate artificial intelligence across business education. Faculty are examining where AI can strengthen learning and professional preparation while maintaining academic rigor, ethical responsibility, and the distinctly Christian worldview at the center of a TMU education. For the School of Business, that distinction is important. AI is not viewed as a replacement for learning, expertise, or human judgment. Instead, students are being taught to understand both its capabilities and its limitations.
“Businesses are not looking for graduates who can simply type a question into an AI platform,” Maiocco said. “They need people who understand business well enough to ask the right questions, recognize when an answer is wrong, interpret information in context and make sound decisions. Our objective is to produce graduates who can combine technological capability with business knowledge, communication skills, ethical discernment and sound judgment. That combination will be increasingly valuable in the workplace.”
The approach also exposes students to multiple AI platforms rather than building a course around a single technology. Students learn to consider which tools are best suited to different business tasks and to adapt as platforms and capabilities change. For Hall, that adaptability may ultimately be one of the most important skills students develop. “The AI tools our students use five years from now may be very different from the ones they use today,” Hall said. “Our responsibility is bigger than teaching them a particular platform. We want to teach them how to learn new technologies, evaluate them critically and use them responsibly. If we do that well, our graduates will be prepared not just for their first job, but to lead and adapt in a business environment that will continue to change throughout their careers.”
Through innovative courses such as Marketing Strategy & AI Applications, engagement with business leaders through its Board of Advisors, and a broader commitment to thoughtful AI integration, Truett McConnell University’s Hans Hut School of Business is working to position its graduates at the intersection of business knowledge, emerging technology, ethical leadership, and Christian conviction, preparing them to contribute immediately in the workplace while developing the judgment and adaptability necessary for long-term professional success.
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