Tamara Tate, PhD
Tamara Tate is Associate Director of the Digital Learning Lab and the WRITE AI Center.
Tamara leads the Lab's work on generative AI, writing, and digital learning. Her research focuses on how AI and other digital tools can support writing instruction, digital literacy, and student learning across secondary and postsecondary education. As PI of multiple grants on AI-based writing, including IES and NSF-funded work, she has led efforts to develop generative AI writing tools, curricula, and faculty resources that integrate AI into teaching and learning without offloading essential skill development. A frequent speaker on AI in education, Dr. Tate teaches AI in Education courses for master’s students and higher education instructors, helping educators critically and responsibly integrate AI into teaching and learning. She is also part of intersegmental efforts across California’s public higher education systems to advance responsible AI use in academic writing and digital literacy. Dr. Tate brings an interdisciplinary background in education, English, and law, with a PhD and BA from UC Irvine and a JD from UC Berkeley.
Tamara can be reached at [email protected]
Tamara leads the Lab's work on generative AI, writing, and digital learning. Her research focuses on how AI and other digital tools can support writing instruction, digital literacy, and student learning across secondary and postsecondary education. As PI of multiple grants on AI-based writing, including IES and NSF-funded work, she has led efforts to develop generative AI writing tools, curricula, and faculty resources that integrate AI into teaching and learning without offloading essential skill development. A frequent speaker on AI in education, Dr. Tate teaches AI in Education courses for master’s students and higher education instructors, helping educators critically and responsibly integrate AI into teaching and learning. She is also part of intersegmental efforts across California’s public higher education systems to advance responsible AI use in academic writing and digital literacy. Dr. Tate brings an interdisciplinary background in education, English, and law, with a PhD and BA from UC Irvine and a JD from UC Berkeley.
Tamara can be reached at [email protected]
UC Irvine to Lead $10 Million National Center on AI and Postsecondary Writing
Five-year initiative will study how generative AI can strengthen writing instruction, student learning and AI literacy
The University of California, Irvine School of Education has been awarded a $10 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences to establish a national research center focused on the effective and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence in postsecondary writing instruction. The grant is the sole award made through IES’s competition for a national research and development center focused on generative AI in postsecondary education.
The National Center for Writing Research to Improve Teaching Effectiveness with Generative AI — known as the WRITE AI Center — will bring together researchers, educators and higher education leaders from across the country. Led by UC Irvine Distinguished Professor of Education Mark Warschauer, the center will investigate how AI can help colleges provide students with more personalized writing instruction while building the writing abilities and AI literacy they need for school, work and civic life.
Community colleges will be central to the center’s work. These institutions serve millions of students, including disproportionate numbers of first-generation students, working adults and learners from low-income backgrounds, but often have limited resources for providing individualized writing support.
The WRITE AI Center will pursue three interconnected areas of work:
The WRITE AI Center is supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305C260035 to the Regents of the University of California.
The National Center for Writing Research to Improve Teaching Effectiveness with Generative AI — known as the WRITE AI Center — will bring together researchers, educators and higher education leaders from across the country. Led by UC Irvine Distinguished Professor of Education Mark Warschauer, the center will investigate how AI can help colleges provide students with more personalized writing instruction while building the writing abilities and AI literacy they need for school, work and civic life.
Community colleges will be central to the center’s work. These institutions serve millions of students, including disproportionate numbers of first-generation students, working adults and learners from low-income backgrounds, but often have limited resources for providing individualized writing support.
The WRITE AI Center will pursue three interconnected areas of work:
- Document how generative AI is currently being used to teach writing in colleges and universities, including the development of a publicly accessible resource describing widely used tools and their instructional features.
- Further develop and rigorously evaluate PapyrusAI, a UC Irvine-created platform that provides students with structured, personalized assistance as they plan and revise their writing.
- Build national research and educational capacity through fellowships, training, convenings and practical resources addressing the effectiveness, scalability, privacy, bias and ethical implications of AI-supported instruction.
The WRITE AI Center is supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305C260035 to the Regents of the University of California.
Recent workTate, T.P., Ritchie, D.R., & Warschauer, M. (2026). Generative AI as a mediational agent: Rethinking learning in sociocultural theory. https://doi.org/10.35542/osf.io/wcpj5_v1
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Episode 24: Melts into Air, Teaching Writing in the Age of AI with Stephanie Tran and Tamara Tate
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