{"id":435776,"date":"2025-12-09T14:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T14:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/435776\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T14:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T14:37:11","slug":"unf-explores-ai-future-amid-student-and-faculty-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/435776\/","title":{"rendered":"UNF explores AI future amid student and faculty concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the University of North Florida Board of Trustees November meeting, members of President Limayem\u2019s AI Council<\/a> gave an in-depth presentation on the emerging role of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education and its future at UNF.<\/p>\n

AI Council members Josh Gellers and Brian Verkamp discussed matters such as AI curriculum integration and future AI initiatives. UNF vice president of Marketing and Communications also noted that AI plug-ins such as ChatGPT have even been utilized in UNF marketing \u201cto ensure consistency\u201d.<\/p>\n

While the AI Council\u2019s website states its goal is to \u201cguide and promote the development and implementation of AI technologies within the university\u201d, UNF students and staff have expressed mixed opinions on the growth of AI at UNF.<\/p>\n

AI Council\u2019s Integration<\/p>\n

In September, UNF took a substantial step in AI usage and promotion when the university launched its \u201cAI for Work and Life\u201d certificate, which has since cultivated more than 38,000 registrations, according to a recent campus-wide email.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do here at UNF is make sure that there are educational resources for students so that no one is left out of this AI-powered economy and also provide training and other kinds of resources for faculty so that they learn how to prepare their students for that new world.\u201d Gellers said during the November BOT meeting.<\/p>\n

According to Gellers\u2019 presentation, UNF intends to follow the success of the \u201cAI for Work and Life\u201d certificate by launching digital badges for staff while also implementing certain AI workshops \u201cdemystifying AI\u201d to those skeptical or uncertain about AI usage.<\/p>\n

With several AI certifications and courses<\/a> already established, UNF also plans to launch three new AI-focused certificates geared towards business, construction, and engineering, according to Gellers.<\/p>\n

In the marketing department, Jones expanded on AI usage on UNF promotional platforms using enterprise tools like Canva.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really using AI across the board, and we\u2019re using it in our marketing campaigns as well.\u201d said Jones.<\/p>\n

Jones stated that UNF uses several AI-plugins for captions, templates, PowerPoint slides, and other digital assets. Through this process, Jones explained that UNF\u2019s \u201cTrue North\u201d brand voice is officially recognized by ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI has learned how we communicate about UNF, allowing the masters [users] to communicate more effectively.\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Mixed Reactions on Campus<\/p>\n

Students and staff have mixed feelings about UNF\u2019s plans for AI integration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Winter Slaughter, a junior and Student Government senator, believes the university is making a positive and necessary change by utilizing AI within the university operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI is here to stay whether we like it or not.\u201d said Slaughter. \u201cTo be a competitive university, we have to adapt to the technology of tomorrow today.\u201d<\/p>\n

UNF BOT member Nikul Patel shares a similar perspective on AI integration, citing the need to prepare students for a changing world and job market that is adjusting to the presence of AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat UNF needs to do, and I believe has been doing, is prepare its students to deal with that change\u2026Are we preparing you to understand what will change and then adapt to that change? I believe UNF has done a great job of doing that.\u201d said Patel.<\/p>\n

However, other students and staff object to the presence of AI on campus, citing its usage as a diminishment of critical thinking and a detriment to the environment.<\/p>\n

Max Fernald, a sophomore, explained that AI should not replace human effort and cautioned against over-reliance on such technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we are taught that we can rely on AI, even for things like studying, what\u2019s going to happen if we become unable to use it? AI makes you dependent and lazy and it ruins things like basic critical thinking skills.\u201d said Fernald.<\/p>\n

UNF professor David Jaffee expressed a similar notion, blaming AI for hindering the critical thinking process he tries to foster within his students.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrganizing information and writing are part of the assignments I give all the time. These are the skills that we want students to be developing at the university and they\u2019re not going to develop them if they use AI.\u201d said Jaffee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should be cultivating their natural intelligence rather than using artificial intelligence.\u201d Jaffee added.<\/p>\n

Jaffee also expressed discontent with the incorporation of AI, given the environmental impact<\/a> of such technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you do any research on AI, you know that environmentally it\u2019s a disaster in terms of the electricity and water use\u2026For universities to be increasing the level of demanded use of something that has that consequence seems to be misguided.\u201d said Jaffee.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

For more information or news tips, or if you see an error in this story or have any compliments or concerns, contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During the University of North Florida Board of Trustees November meeting, members of President Limayem\u2019s AI Council gave…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":389672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7310,44677,46512,67,586,132,5230,14645,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-435776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-ospreys","13":"tag-unf","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-university-of-north-florida","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115690120566113465","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}