Dear UVU faculty and staff,

As you may know, UVU has convened an AI Task Force that is charged with exploring, coordinating, and optimizing the use of AI technologies to benefit faculty, staff, and students.

The first goal of the task force is to provide education, training, and support for full and part-time faculty on the efficient, ethical, secure, and inclusive use of AI in pedagogy and curriculum development. As such, we have planned a series of campus events this spring semester aimed at supporting faculty, staff, and students to learn about AI and its impact and opportunity here at UVU. More events will be added to the calendar as details are finalized, and communication about these events will be shared regularly.

The first event is being held this Wednesday, January 24, at 3:00-4:30 p.m. in the Vallejo Auditorium, Keller Building. The event will be recorded, and the recording will be shared on the AI Task Force web page afterward. Please join us if you can. We would love to have a large group to kick off these events.

There will be five presenters, each with their own experience and perspective of AI and its value in the classroom setting.

• Dr. F. Wayne Vaught, Provost and Sr. Vice President of Academic Affairs
• Christina Baum, Vice President – Digital Transformation
• Rachael Hutchings, J.D., Professional in Residence – Strategic Management
• Lisa Bell, Director – UVU Writing Center
• Dr. Brendan McCarthy, Assistant Professor – History and Political Science

Since there will be an interactive component, please bring a laptop.

We welcome all UVU staff and faculty to this event. We look forward to seeing you!

Dr. David R. Connelly
Associate Provost – Student Success
Chair, UVU AI Task Force

In mid-December 2023, under the direction of President Tuminez and Provost Vaught, UVU formed a campuswide Artificial Intelligence (AI) Task Force, including faculty, staff, and student representatives from across campus. The task force will take the lead to explore, coordinate, and optimize the use of artificial intelligence technologies to the benefit of students, faculty, and staff at UVU, and work towards enhancing the overall student experience by leveraging AI innovations responsibly, securely, ethically, and inclusively. It reports directly to Provost Vaught, with whom it will share regular progress reports.

The task force will explore the following two areas as priority. Additional areas may be identified for future exploration as the task force considers effective strategies.

1. Provision of education, training, and support for full and part-time faculty on the efficient, ethical, secure, and inclusive use of AI in pedagogy and curriculum development.
2. The use of AI to enhance the student experience at UVU both inside and outside the classroom and to prepare students for work and life in an AI-dominated world, including preparation of students to compete with AI.

This spring, the task force is hosting four campuswide events for faculty and staff. UVUSA is also hosting an event for students. More details about these events are available on the AI Task Force web page. This page will be updated regularly with additional events and resources as they become available. Schools and colleges will also be offering events that will be open to all. Those will be added as soon as details are made available.

We will provide regular updates through the normal university channels, including leadership meetings, MyUVU and the staff and faculty newsletters.

We encourage everyone on campus to learn as much as they can about AI. There are some good resources and a specific channel of content related to this, on Pluralsight. If you have not already created an account via Single Sign-On (SSO) using your UVU credentials, you can do so by clicking here.

The task force welcomes ideas, feedback, and questions. Please contact Trish Baker via Teams or email at [email protected] if you would like to share something.

Dr. David R. Connelly
Associate Provost – Student Success
Chair, UVU AI Task Force