Author Archives: Elaine Hall

Dr. Souvick Ghosh Champions Artificial Intelligence (AI) Education at SJSU

Souvick Ghosh
Souvick Ghosh, PhD
Assistant Professor, SJSU School of Information
AI Faculty Fellows, SJSU College of Information, Data and Society 

“The nature of work is evolving. Is your job unsafe? Probably not. But do you need to know about AI? I think: absolutely.” 

Souvick Ghosh (PhD) is an Assistant Professor at San José State’s School of Information in the College of Information, Data & Society. His research focuses on designing human-centered AI (HCAI) and exploring best practices in the ethical use and application of AI technologies. Dr. Ghosh was recently appointed as one of SJSU’s inaugural cohort of AI Faculty Fellows – a new campus-wide initiative that aims to support the campus community in navigating the social, academic and professional changes brought about by AI.

The fellowship recognizes the professional contributions of 12 SJSU faculty members, each representing a different discipline but all of whom are engaged in innovative research on the ethical and actionable uses of AI technology. Fellows will serve as an advisory collective as the SJSU community learns and integrates AI-forward educational perspectives and methods. Students and faculty should stay tuned for related educational resources, research and events. 

As Fellows, Dr. Ghosh says, “We are asking our students to ride the AI bus, and we are the drivers or conductors helping to steer them on the right path.”

The role of advocate and thought-leader is an intuitive fit for Dr. Ghosh, who also co-developed the iSchool’s Human-Centered AI Certificate and is now in the preparatory stages of offering Human-Centered AI as a Minor program. 

While Dr. Ghosh himself comes from a Computer Science background, he is highly attentive that many students and faculty, even those who regularly use AI software, feel daunted or confused when engaging with the technical and computational dimensions. He hopes that through his work as a Fellow, he can encourage students from all backgrounds and expertise that there is a place for them in the evolving conversation and adoption of AI technology. This is especially crucial as both students and faculty see how AI is rapidly transforming the future of their chosen fields. Dr. Ghosh hopes to help the community prepare for cross-sectoral, broad-scale integration of AI:

“The nature of work is evolving” but not in ways that are necessarily predictable or set in stone. “Is your job unsafe? Probably not. But do you need to know about AI? I think absolutely.”

In his work, Dr. Ghosh observes the full range of attitudes toward AI – from confident adopters and regular users to those who are curious but uncertain, and also many who feel concerned or even antagonistic about AI’s implementation and impact. For example, he notes the concern over risk with AI, stating: 

“Certain things work better with AI, but it comes with a cost. So is the cost worth it? That’s why we need those dialogues.” 

He also recognizes that students and faculty frequently have different considerations, concerns and interests. But far from considering these disparities a problem, he emphasized the need for diverse perspectives and open dialogue. His primary concern is that, regardless of one’s opinion on AI, it is crucial to be educated and informed about both its potential and its risks.

“You may hate AI, but unless you know AI, how can you be a part of the conversation?”

Towards this goal, Dr. Ghosh and the AI fellows helped create the newly launched AI Literacy Essentials Course. The program, offered through Canvas, is self-paced and designed for both students and faculty at SJSU. Offering a range of perspectives, modules cover everything from coding and prompting to social justice and environmental impact to sector-specific applications and use-cases. By bringing the subject down to earth and appealing to a breadth of interests, this course is a vital resource for developing a holistic and grounded understanding of AI. 

Realizing that it is an opportunity that also comes with responsibility, Dr. Ghosh takes his role as a Fellow seriously as he works to help guide SJSU through a period of intense transition, innovation and uncertainty. He emphasizes the importance of collaboration – not only within professional and academic fields, but also across disciplines. 

This value is reflected in his research, as he has worked not only across sectors of the LIS field but also with computer scientists, public health professionals and political scientists. He points to this cross-disciplinary mindset as a key lesson for students and faculty to embody as society is undergoing significant shifts in the academic and professional landscapes. When we work together, not only do these changes become more navigable, but they can truly be exciting avenues for the campus community to progress together.

Telling People’s Stories with Abbie Fentress Swanson

Abbie Fentress

Abbie Fentress Swanson, MLIS expected ’26, Los Angeles, CA

After leading a rewarding career in journalism, Abbie Fentress Swanson decided to turn her attention toward librarianship. She began the San José State University (SJSU) School of Information Program in August 2024 and quickly became a shining star; she used her background in journalism to contribute to a number of exciting SJSU-led podcasts, projects and community initiatives. Going forward, Abbie hopes to continue bridging journalism with librarianship to help people share their stories. 

Road to Journalism

Abbie grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia, and received her Bachelor’s degree in 1999 from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, with a concentration in Italian Studies.  While librarianship was far away at this point, she held her first library job at William & Mary’s Swem Library, where she shelved books and helped students access documents. 

After graduation, Abbie moved to New York City and began work (among other places) for a labor union, which was her first foray into journalism. She wrote “profiles of members for a monthly newspaper called The Unionist.”  A couple of years later, along with some friends, Abbie started making a zine called dirtypop.

dirtypop featured up-and-coming writers, artists and musicians from historically underrepresented groups. I think that’s when I got hooked to the power of the written word and helping people tell their stories. So I went to UC-Berkeley to get some formal training in journalism.

Abbie moved to Oakland and started UC-Berkeley’s Graduate School in Journalism in 2007. In 2015, she was awarded a University of Michigan Knight-Wallace Investigative Reporting Fellowship, where she studied sustainability, food and journalism. She says she was always drawn to stories surrounding food, agriculture and audio. 

My favorite beat as a reporter was the food and farm beat because there’s so much that goes into growing a bushel of corn, brewing a cup of coffee or getting a tasty fish taco onto the plate. My dad was a beekeeper who grew lots of garlic and sold it at the farmers market so maybe this is in my DNA. I got to cover food and agricultural stories for NPR, Modern Farmer and the Washington Post as a freelancer, and as a full-time reporter for KBIA Radio and Harvest Public Media in Missouri. I’ve also always been a public radio fan, probably because that’s how we got the news growing up in central Virginia.

Telling Stories in Los Angeles 

In 2015, Abbie moved to Los Angeles to work at KCRW where she was the supervising producer of Good Food, a weekly show and podcast. 

My job was to record, edit and file an hourly show made up of 5 to 7 segments every Friday, which would air on Saturday mornings. This was my first full-time job in Los Angeles, and it was a great way to meet so many thoughtful, hardworking chefs, farmers, restaurant workers and journalists here.”

In 2019, The Los Angeles Times hired her to build their podcast unit “from the ground up.” She helped hire, train and manage a team of “10 producers, editors, hosts and engineers.” Together the team “made a dozen daily, weekly and seasonal shows that were based on original L.A. Times reporting.” In 2021, she joined CNN to lead the audio team’s development of new podcasts. She hired an “amazing team of producers” and they made shows with hosts “like Audie Cornish, Donnie Wahlberg, Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper.

Each gig was a bit different in terms of what kind of newsroom I was working in…But the work was similar, in that the goal was to make great audio series that were based on newsroom intellectual property.”

Telling Stories at SJSU 

After making 20 podcasts and working in newsrooms for 15 years, Abbie felt like she needed a break from full-time media life. While she still worked part-time as a consulting producer and editor on different podcasts, in 2023, she turned away from CNN and started to look towards librarianship. She chose SJSU because of its affordability, flexibility and American Library Association credibility. She started classes in 2024 and plans to graduate in May 2026 with a focus on public libraries and archival preservation. 

I decided to apply to the program to add more skills to my toolbox, and to figure out ways to help California institutions tell and share more stories. It’s never too late to learn!

Abbie’s brief time at SJSU has already been quite fruitful as she weaves her journalistic skills with new opportunities she encounters at SJSU. 

Since September, I’ve been working with Dr. Anthony Chow to standardize and grow the audiences for the iSchool’s existing video podcasts (Information Gone Wild and the SJSU iSchool Culture & Community Symposia). I’ve also been helping to develop and launch new video series with alumni like Mychal Threets. We’re working on a new video series that explores the impacts of President Trump’s cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Listening in on so many conversations with experts in our field has taught me a lot, and has been a nice complement to my coursework here.”

What’s Next

Abbie is currently volunteering as a tutor and English conversation teacher at the adult literacy program at her local library. 

In the training for volunteer teachers, I was surprised (and slightly alarmed) to learn that roughly 1 million Angelenos aren’t literate in English. Being a conversation teacher and tutor through the Los Angeles Public Library feels like an easy way that I can give back to my community of Northeast Los Angeles, and learn about the programs that LAPL branches are offering to members of the community.

This aligns with Abbie’s current goal to work near her home in one of the public library branches in Northeast Los Angeles. 

I’d love to help people in my part of town get the resources they need to make their lives better. Maybe that’s a free literacy class, or help checking out an audiobook, or welcoming them to a place to stay cool during the increasingly hot summers here. It would be neat to find a way to help our public libraries collect and share more stories of life here in Southern California, so their stories aren’t lost to the next generation.

Advice for Students 

The library profession is lucky to have Abbie Fentress Swanson and it will be exciting to see the impact she makes in Southern California in the coming years.  She offers this sage advice to other students:

Students seem to come to the SJSU iSchool with many different career goals, so my tips may not be useful for everyone. But I’ve really tried to diversify my experience here, casting a wide net with the electives I’ve taken and the different projects I’ve participated in, which include lending a hand on the iSchool’s Ukrainian Libraries in Wartime project and attending the 2025 Summer Educational Institute workshop on the stewardship of visual materials in digital collections. I’ve learned something new with each class, job assignment, volunteer opportunity, workshop and conference I’ve attended. May as well soak it all up!