FPC Meeting, February 23, 2026

College of Education
FPC Meeting
February 23, 2026; 2:00pm
Rosenberg Room

Attendees

Chair & Chair Elect: Tara Mathien, Caitie Gallingane
HDOSE: Sara Jean-Philippe, Tuuli Robinson, Melissa Mariani
SESPECS: Nelson Brunsting, Hannah Matthews, Alyce Kay Emery, Renae Simonds
STL: Brady Nash, Suzanne Chapman, Natalie Hagler (Zoom), Tammy Huang
Guests: 4 guests in attendance from COE, invited in college-wide email

Absent: Avery Closser, Katy Chapman, Lindsay Byron, Kyena Cornelius

Welcome

Meeting called to order at 2:04 pm.

Approval of the Agenda

Motion to approve agenda by Brady Nash at 2:05 pm. Seconded with consensus of the group. No abstentions or objections.

Approval of Last Meeting’s Minutes (January 26, 2026)

Motion to approve January minutes by Brady Nash at 2:06 pm. Seconded by Sara Jean-Philippe and approved by consensus of the group. Minutes stand approved at 2:09 pm.

Announcements/Reminders

N/A

Deans’ Reports

Associate Dean Elayne Colón (absent, report provided by Tara Mathien)

Curriculum

Simple Syllabus:

The university has adopted the Simple Syllabus platform to meet the Florida Board of Governors’ Regulation 8.003, which requires all course syllabi to be posted online in a searchable format at least 45 days before the start of each semester. This requirement applies beginning with the Summer A/C 2026 term. All faculty should have received communication and support materials from Provost Glover about this new requirement via email on February 20th.

The university is implementing a “train-the-trainer” model. To support COE faculty, Caitie Gallingane, as CCC Chair, and Chris Cook, as CCC Secretary and EduGator Central staff, will complete the training on Monday, February 23rd. Faculty and instructors with questions or concerns that cannot be resolved through the university provided support materials should reach out to Caitie and Chris for assistance.

Per university communications, Summer syllabi must be posted in Simple Syllabus no later than March 27th.

Streamlining Academic Management (SAM) Initiative:

The university sent an email communication to SAM Workgroup and Implementation team members on February 17th that the transition to the CourseDog platform would be paused. This platform was to host Curriculum Management, Catalog, Academic Scheduling, and Course Demand tools. Most relevant to faculty, CourseDog was to replace the existing Approval Tracking System for curriculum proposals for new courses and programs. Despite previous communications, we will persist with the current Approval Tracking System for the foreseeable future.

Student Affairs

Undergraduate Research:

The College will host the annual Research Symposium on Thursday, April 2nd. Poster and paper presentation proposal are being accepted now through March 3rd. Please share this opportunity with your undergraduate and graduate students. For more information, please reach out to Alexis Dixon in EduGator Central.

Associate Dean Thomasenia Adams (absent, report provided by Tara Mathien)

Grant Activity to Date for 2025-2026

January: 2 awards, $593,341 funded, 10 proposals submitted
Total fiscal year to date: 31 awards, $6,046,687 funded, 98 proposals submitted

Active Awards

Deadline is March 9 to submit a packet:

Excellence Awards for Assistant Professor (due to OER Feb 23, 2026)
B.O. Smith Professorship (due to OER March 9, 2026)
Diane E. Haines Teaching Excellence Award (due to OER March 9, 2026)
Hedges Endowed Research Fund (due to OER March 9, 2026)
Irving and Rose Fien Endowed Professorship (due to OER March 9, 2026)
Kubiak Endowed Term Professorship (due to OER March 9, 2026)
Primack Memorial Award (due to OER March 9, 2026)
Rosser Family Faculty Award (due to OER March 9, 2026)
Rosser Family Term Professorship (due to OER March 9, 2026)
Dennison Teacher Research Excellence Award (due to OER March 9, 2026)
Dennison Teacher Research Outstanding Manuscript Award (due to OER March 9, 2026)

Upcoming Events

March 24, 2026, 11am-12pm – All Things Pre & Post Award, Hosted by Thomasenia Adams and Rosabel Ruiz (Zoom)
March 31, 2026, 11am-12pm – All Things Promotion (Non-Tenure Track Faculty) Hosted by Thomasenia Adams (Zoom)
April 15, 2026, 10am-11am – Faculty, Excellence & Advancement Overview, Hosted by Thomasenia Adams and Colleen Gaddy – FEA Program Manager (Zoom)

Faculty Processes

The 2025-26 T/P process is at the university level
The 2025-26 PTR process is underway within the college

Associate Dean Erica McCray

Faculty Excellence and Advancement (FEA) System

This system will be used for annual evaluation process
Working with Ellen and the School of Directors to simplify a process for this year
Annual report will be entered into system
You should have more details soon
Will probably look like: downloading what’s populated, entering information, and reuploading
University is requiring that process goes through that system. At this point, only thing required is information is entered in system
More on that soon

Searches

Continuing searches: 4 successfully completed so far with many others continuing
We appreciate your engagement in those search committees

Other Updates

The university and UFF are at an impasse on collective bargaining
No update on H1B visa status, but next BOG meeting scheduled for March 2

Dean Glenn Good

We have a lot of new systems
Courtyard: They said it is a top priority. We will get it done eventually
PK Yonge new gym
AI efforts on campus
Research day is coming up
FPC is planning an introduction into tools you have available – either at end of semester or before start of fall

Invited Guests

Hans van Oostrom, Director, AI2 Center

AI Education at UF

Part of provost office overseeing AI education. Will talk about current issues with AI and teaching. Education is power. If you learn about AI, you can make informed decisions. UF has gone all in on AI. AI is pervasive across all fields. All of our students will encounter AI after they leave UF, we need to prepare them. Custom-built AI applications are being developed across sectors. 75% growth in AI-related employment. Shortage of AI workers in the US. Department of labor issued a report on what we should teach students in AI.

UF: An AI University Blueprint

Build an AI supercomputer
Train current faculty
Hire 100+ new AI faculty
Place them in all colleges
Create new courses, add AI contents to existing ones
AI throughout the curriculum quality enhancement program
Research computing: HiPerGator 4th version

AI Learning Academy

4-day workshop held during reading days or before semesters, coming up in June and December
Great opportunity to meet faculty from other colleges

AI Adventure

Online course
Leads ultimately to micro-credential
AI fundamentals
AI ethics
AI for teaching and learning
Done with group of faculty across the campus
University AI website (ai.ufl.edu): Has a list of things we are currently doing, Has some guidance on using AI in classes (or not), Place to start if you want to learn more

AI Faculty Hiring

Including 5 within College of Education hired under this program. Idea is to place faculty in these positions to become focal point for faculty. HiPerGator mostly used by engineering and computer science, but use is more distributed over colleges after training. These faculty are developing new courses.

AI Course Designations

We want a way to designate courses as AI. Developed 5 course designations:

Enabling AI
Know and understand AI
Use and apply AI
Evaluate and create AI
AI ethics

Process

Create a course with AI content (new or existing)
Submit to the approval system
Departmental and college approval (For adding a designation to an existing course, no curriculum committee action is needed)
Review by the AI education committee (Made up from faculty across the colleges)
Implementation by the Office of the University Registrar

Over 200 courses available to students. Search for AI courses in the schedule of courses or the catalog. A lot of these courses are elective.

AI Undergraduate Certificate

Developed AI certificate with 3 courses:

2 required courses: Fundamentals of AI (available to anyone), Ethics, Data, and Technology
1 elective course in student’s discipline

Overall, had over 1,000 students complete the certificate. Been doing this now for three years. Looking into having more students participate.

AI in the Classroom

AI for Assignments:

Clarity: Make it very clear to students which tools they are allowed to use and how
Authentic assessment: Evaluate assessments to ensure they are assessing the outcomes of the course. Ensure assessment levels are appropriate (Bloom’s)
Appropriate proctoring: Ensure appropriate proctoring is in place. Unproctored work should not be the majority of the course grade. Take-home work is essentially unproctored
Is there enough AI course contents (50% for most designations), where it is taught

AI Detection:

Do not rely on AI detection. It is not effective.
Policies need to be in syllabus – what are students allowed and not allowed to use in assignments
Tools do not work: False positives (4+%), tools are always behind the latest
Use assessments that allow for AI
Teach students how to best use the tools while still creating their own work or showing their own knowledge on the subject

“Show Your Work”:

Ask students to show how they developed their work
Use revision history in editing tools like google docs
Custom tools are becoming available

9 Ways AI-Literate Students Learn with AI

Use AI as a thinking partner
Question and verify AI information
Use AI to edit the mechanics of language
Ideate themselves
Keep intellectual ownership
Use AI to support reading comprehension
Reflect on how AI shapes their thinking
Use AI for formative feedback
Set clear boundaries for AI use

Jeff Bates, Assistant Dean of Students and Director, Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution Office

Academic Integrity at UF – Reporting Violations

Evaluate Expectations:

Clearly define your expectations for student behavior in your course
Are they allowed and how are they allowed?
Determine what would be concerning behaviors for cheating
Would this vary across different assignments?
What methods will you use to review these behaviors? (Turnitin, HonorLock, TA review, etc)
Check your department policy

Preparing Your Report:

Items to prepare and gather before submitting a formal report:

Assignment of concern
Assignment instructions
Other instructions/expectations shared
Course syllabus
Witnesses (if applicable)

Reporting Allegations:

Sccr.dso.ufl.edu
Honor code incident report
Reporting deadlines: Final day that grades are due for the term. Early reporting of concerns helps address and prevent ongoing behavior
- Spring 2026: May 4
- Fall 2026: Dec 14

Conduct Process

Steps of the Process:

Incident reported to SCCR
Charges determined (e.g., plagiarism, cheating, use of unauthorized materials)
Letter sent to student and faculty with next steps
Information meeting: Review of process, options for resolution. Different ways of resolving, could be formal or informal. Students may or may not accept responsibility

Hearing Body Types:

Individual hearing officer (IHO)
Student conduct committee (SCC)
University officials board (UOB)
SCC (Greek/Health Science Center)

Administrative Review and Restorative Dialogue:

Students accepting responsibility can opt for an administrative review or restorative dialogue
Administrative reviews involve a conduct administrator and the student discussing the behavior, decision-making, impacts, and prevention
Restorative dialogue

Hearings:

Students not accepting responsibility or separable cases
Educational nature, allowing perspectives and questions at specified points
Outcome letter is sent to the student with faculty copied after final decision is made
Students can appeal the final decision within ten class days

Grade Adjustment Sanctions

Faculty can enter a grade adjustment once a student has been found responsible and they have been copied on an outcome letter
Faculty must notify the student of the grade adjustment within ten class days of receiving the outcome letter
Faculty should not include a grade recommendation in the incident report
SCCR recommends: document potential grade adjustments in the syllabus, clarity limits grievances and ensures students know the consequences of violating course/University policy
Check with your department in case there is a department-wide policy

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Regulation 4.040 defines an Entity as “includes but is not limited to generative artificial intelligence, large language models, content generation bots, or other non-human intelligence or digital tools”. This was part of new regulation approved in 2023 to give us specific language.

Tips Regarding AI:

Consider and communicate if/how AI use is permitted
Be aware of common signs of AI. Questions we ask and things we look for when we are given reports. You are not expected to be an expert at detecting AI. Think of it in buckets: Is this AI/entity related or human created. As we get different pieces of information, put in buckets and weigh those buckets in the end.
Limit of AI detection software/services
Consider methods to limited prohibited AI use

Common Signs of AI

Inconsistent word choices: AI prefers words/phrases including moreover, furthermore, it is important to note, foster/fostering, integral, pivotal, systematic, equitable, institutional, delve
Grandiose adjectives
Overuse of commas, 3-part lists, Em dashes
Negation language: It’s not just X, it’s Y
Straight quotation marks
Questionable source material: Fabricated or nonexistent sources, Hallucinated quotes – close to a quote, but not actually, Lack or incorrect in-text citations, Citation errors

Methods to Limit Prohibited AI Use

Write introduction in class
Google Drive tracks every second and change that you made. Microsoft Word periodically updates it.
Embed hidden prompts: Specific phrases, sources, directions
Utilize flipped classroom: Beginning to craft presentation or paper into the classroom
Individual writing time into the classroom
Breakdown projects into steps

Discussion and Action Items

Committee Updates

Budgetary Affairs: Tuuli Robinson

We touch base, it is advisory in nature. No new items.

College Curriculum: Caitie Gallingane

New system – there seems to be something wrong between department and college. We will try to fix it. Still wait until next month before you resume submitting things.

Faculty Affairs: Nelson Brunsting

No report

Lectures, Seminars & Awards: Suzanne Chapman (alternate for Magdi Castaneda)

Have not met again. Waiting on a date because 8 awards coming up. Will meet shortly after that to review internal awards.

Long Range Planning: Kyena Cornelius (absent – report provided by Tara Mathien)

Shared out draft of university strategic plan and COE strategic plan
Discussing revisions to COE plan with goal of making revisions before the end of the semester
The evaluation surveys for deans and associate deans are being drafted, will be posted mid to late march

Research Advisory: Hannah Mathews

No updates

Technology & Distance Ed: Katy Chapman (absent – report provided by Tammy Huang)

College is hiring ADA instructional designers to support faculty
2 upcoming sessions in March and April
Workshops and faculty support: Session on AI and innovation, National AI Literacy Day in March, HiPerGator showcase, Spring innovation forum

Elections Committee: Nelson Brunsting, Hannah Mathews

Soliciting nominees, getting ballot put together
Nelson sent out information
If you have someone in mind that you would like to encourage to participate, that would be great
Looking for Chair Elect
May want to take turns in department

Discussion Items

Data Storage for FPC Website

Tara Mathien: We are having to be ADA compliant. We have years and years worth of minutes. I’m sure many examples exist across committees. Currently the way ADA would work is minutes would open on webpage, rather than attachment. Does not feel like this would be user-friendly to get information out, even though user-friendly to read it. We brought this to the Dean about how we feel about storage. It’s up to us as FPC what we want it to be. Think about how we keep historical records of our work that are accessible to all. Cannot be a single person. How long do we want them forward-facing on website. Do we have a Teams folder? We don’t want to lose any information.

Discussion included considerations of storage limits, server space, authorization management, and constitution requirements. We will continue this conversation. Cat’s team is creating secured server space for every faculty already. We will look into these things and come back in March with answers and ideas.

AI Workshop & End of Semester Social

Dean is interested in having some sort of faculty workshop or learning lab. He wants to support the AI initiative in the college. Dean would like FPC along with dean’s office to host an activity for faculty. Need to think about when: end of semester or beginning. What would entice people to come? Snacks, social? Arcade Bar? Couple hours of workshop and then we go somewhere fun.

Consensus: End of semester is less stressful and preferred timing. It will be what we decide.

Adjournment

Motion to adjourn by Renae Simonds at 4:05 pm. Caitie Gallingane seconded with no objections or abstentions. The motion passed unanimously.

Remaining Meetings

March 23rd – Rosenberg
April 20th – Spring Faculty Meeting