Designed to bring education and industry together to energize growth across Connecticut’s high-impact sectors, TTA 3.0 is championed by the Connecticut Office of Workforce Strategy in collaboration with BHEF and the New England Board of Higher Education.

With one grant focused on healthcare, the other on technology, each grant awarded to Quinnipiac allows the university to collaborate with key industry partners in the state to help develop AI workforce knowledge.

To advance the effective adoption of AI technologies in healthcare careers, Quinnipiac Lifelong Learning Program Director Nathaniel Johnson and Center for Interprofessional Healthcare Education (CIHE) Director Julie Booth will work with industry partner VRSim and clinical partners to develop a noncredit, simulation-based micro-credential in AI-augmented clinical communication and coaching. VRSim is a leading provider of virtual reality training solutions for skilled trades.

“Our team looks forward to partnering with the Business-Higher Education Forum, the New England Board of Higher Education, our business partner, VRSim, and clinical care partners, Griffin Health, Connecticut Children’s, Gaylord Specialty Healthcare and Hartford HealthCare to launch a program focused on developing and implementing an AI-enabled workforce micro-credential,” Johnson said.

To launch their AI Credential Pathway Course System, School of Communications associate professor of interactive media and design Guy-Serge Emmanuel, and John Powers, assistant professor of interactive media and design and director of the digital content creation & strategy graduate program, are partnering with InBox Health and Connecticut Innovations. InBox Health is a leading patient billing and engagement technology platform. Connecticut Innovations is the state's strategic venture capital arm supporting innovative, growing companies.

Offered at the School of Communications, the AI Credential Pathway Course System meets industry demand by integrating highly sought, credit-bearing and stackable AI certifications into undergraduate and graduate curricula.

“What makes this project different is that students aren’t just learning about AI tools in theory, they're applying them to their projects as they are building their personal portfolios. Having InBox Health and Connecticut Innovations at the table means the AI certifications and trainings we are offering are what is needed by companies and organizations in the real world,” Powers said.

Powering an AI-enabled healthcare workforce

Launching in Spring 2027 as a live online course for Quinnipiac students and healthcare professionals, the innovative 7-week micro-credential in AI-augmented clinical communication and coaching will build AI fluency using VRSim’s training technology and conversational interfaces.

Through clinical simulations, faculty-led sessions and immediate AI-coach feedback, the live, synchronous course will guide participants as they learn to analyze AI output and responsibly leverage the technology to improve patient care.

Johnson said the program is being designed to meet the moment by strengthening healthcare communication, human-centered professional skills and AI literacy across clinical roles within a range of healthcare settings.

“We know that several providers are or will soon be implementing AI assisted medical documentation, electronic health records and coaching systems,” Johnson said. “This program will give us a tremendous opportunity to partner with VRSim to provide highly customized and low-stakes coaching simulations to help clinicians with interpersonal interactions with a variety of different patient profiles and improve their readiness to provide high-quality responsiveness to the need of real human patients.”

Booth noted the unique co-learning environment gives Quinnipiac students the opportunity to learn alongside practicing healthcare professionals in an interprofessional setting, mirroring the CIHE’s commitment to collaborative learning.

“Through VRSim simulations, real-time AI coaching and clinical scenarios, students will strengthen their clinical communication skills, develop practical AI fluency and build confidence working as part of healthcare teams while gaining exposure to real-world clinical perspectives and decision-making,” said Booth.

The program also builds on the Connecticut TTA 3.0 pilot phase grant awarded to Quinnipiac Lifelong Learning in February 2026, said Johnson. The $25,409 pilot grant supported a new online upskilling program, “AI for Business Innovation in Healthcare,” launched in May 2026.

“That brought in a number of industry partners and made 80 training seats available to professionals working in large and small healthcare industry representatives in our region,” Johnson said. “Many of these professionals work in administrative roles, and we were determined to develop a follow-on program that focused on more clinical roles and on enabling better patient interactions with AI assistance for some of the same organizations who have invested with us as partners.”

Combined with many productive, standing partnerships, grant opportunities such as TTA 3.0 provide Quinnipiac Lifelong Learning with the ability to quickly develop and field immersive training that directly responds to industry needs, Johnson said.

“We look forward to working with our partners to develop and deliver this program and are excited to continue to develop and improve the readiness of Connecticut’s workforce to meet the needs of their changing environments,” Johnson said.

Equipping Quinnipiac graduates with top-tier AI credentials

Quinnipiac School of Communications’ AI Credential Pathway Course System initiative integrates AI certifications from major tech leaders including Google, Adobe, Meta and Pearson into undergraduate and graduate courses.

Under the leadership of Emmanuel and Powers, the credit-bearing, stackable AI credential pathway offers nine one-credit companion courses within the School of Communications. The project’s strategic partnerships with InBox Health and Connecticut Innovations ensure postsecondary training directly reflects evolving industry needs.

“At the end of the day in our industry, a great portfolio — as in a great body of creative work — is needed, but by embedding Google, Adobe and Meta credentials into our curriculum assures that our students graduate with industry credentials that employers instantly recognize,” Emmanuel said.

The credentials also prove that graduates are fluent in the industry-standard tools and platforms they will use on the job.

“This stackable credential model is transformative because it allows students to graduate not only with a Quinnipiac degree, but with a robust, verified portfolio of technical skills,” said Emmanuel.

Running from September 2026 through August 2027, the initiative will culminate in an AI Day event. Open to the Quinnipiac community, the event will offer students, faculty and staff hands-on engagement with AI tools and certifications featured in the initiative.

Powers noted that receiving the TTA 3.0 grant for this project is a signal that the state sees Quinnipiac’s communications students as part of Connecticut’s workforce, not adjacent to it.

“Our graduates are creators, content strategists and communicators who also need to be fluent in AI tools, and this funding lets us build AI expertise and leadership into our programs,” Powers said.

In a statement, BHEF CEO Kristen D. Fox said the programs being developed by the TTA 3.0 Innovation Grant cohort demonstrate the impact of scaling corporate and academic partnerships.

"Congratulations to the recipients and a growing roster of employer partners that are working side by side, pairing higher education's expertise with employer insight to prepare people to succeed in an AI-driven economy. By embedding employer voice, from curriculum design to work-integrated learning, this kind of close collaboration helps ideas move faster and reach further — giving these programs the durability to take root and serve as a model other partnerships can build on,” Fox said.