A faculty voice in matters affecting the general welfare of the
University of Alaska system and its educational programs.

April 12, 2024

3:30 pm -5:00 pm

Zoom
Agenda (Draft)

First Annual UA Faculty Alliance Thought Leaders Forum

The First Annual UA Faculty Alliance Thought Leaders Forum will bring UA Faculty together to share their thoughts about the important education and research topics of today.

The Faculty Alliance will host their first annual Thought Leaders Forum for two half days of virtual Zoom meetings, March 28, from 11am to 3pm, and March 29, from 10am to 2pm. This year’s topic is artificial intelligence. Though long in development, generative artificial intelligence seemingly exploded into the consciousness of the university education community in November of 2022 when OpenAI released an early version of ChatGPT, a large language model capable of natural language processing. Since that time, universities have debated the impact, positive and negative, of GenAI on academic integrity, academic performance, the nature of work in various disciplines, and the broader impact on society. How should AI be handled in the classroom? Is AI appropriate everywhere and in every discipline? Is AI a new phenomenon fundamentally different from what has come before or is it an extension of existing processes? Should universities create new policies specifically about AI or is that an alarmist response? Does AI offer opportunities for all students, or does it privilege some forms of expression over others?

The Faculty Alliance sought proposals from University of Alaska faculty and others for presentations or panels. Some possible themes that may be addressed:  

  1. The impact of AI on academic integrity.
  2. The impact of AI on academic performance.
  3. The impact of AI on a particular discipline or area of employment.
  4. Impact of AI on research.
  5. The impact of AI on society, including intellectual property, cultural expression, and visibility of minority voices.
  6. The coded biases and blind spots of limited data and the potential for discrimination and inequities.  

Proposal Form

Proposals were due: February 26, 2024

  • Proposals were evaluated by members of the Faculty Alliance. Groupings of individual presentations for concurrent sessions will be determined based on submissions received.

Presenters were notified: March 4, 2024

Schedule will available: March 18, 2024 

Types of Format Options that may be presented:

  • Individual Presentation: 20-30 minute presentation. Individual presentations with related or complimentary themes will be placed together in one of our concurrent sessions.
  • Group Panel Presentation: 3 to 4 co-presenters coordinated around a specific theme or question for a one hour joint presentation. Panels should reserve 10-15 minutes for questions at the end of the session. Interdisciplinary and/or cross-university collaborations are welcome.

     


    For more information contact:

    Jennifer Carroll, UAF Faculty Senate President, jlcarroll@alaska.edu 

    Jacqueline Cason, UAA, Faculty Senate President-Elect, jecason@alaska.edu 

    Jennifer Ward, UAS, Faculty Senate Past-President and UA Faculty Alliance Chair, jdbrown@alaska.edu 

    Paul Layer, UA Vice President for Academics, Students, and Research, pwlayer@alaska.edu

 

UA Faculty:  AY24 Faculty Initiative Fund!

AY 24 RFP found here:

All proposals in response to this RFP were due to the Office of Academics, Students & Research by midnight November 5, 2023. The review period has concluded. Disbursement of project funds began on January 8, 2024.

Faculty Initiative Fund Website


Resolutions & Motions

Current and past actions can be viewed HERE.


Constitution and Bylaws

Constitution and Bylaws

Meeting Schedule

The Faculty Alliance meets on the second and fourth Friday from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

System Governance Calendar

UA Faculty Senates

Faculty Senate Websites

Faculty Alliance AY24 Chair

Jennifer Ward
Associate Professor, Library
and Information Science,
Outreach Services Librarian 
University of Alaska Southeast
jdbrown@alaska.edu
(907) 796-6285
Egan Library 204
11066 Auke Lake Way
Juneau, Alaska 99801

Faculty Alliance AY 25 Chair

Jennifer Carroll
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Associate Professor
jlcarroll@alaska.edu
1736 Tanana Loop
Fairbanks, Alaska 99709
(907) 474-5405

Faculty Alliance AY23 Chair

Gökhan Karahan, Ph.D. 
Professor, Accounting and Finance
University of Alaska Anchorage
gkarahan@alaska.edu
907-786-4132
RH 307C
3211 Providence Drive
Anchorage, AK 99501

                                 

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If anyone missed the March 8th Discussion with Dr. Reichman on Shared Governance and Academic Freedom, here is The Link with the Passcode: I8E?uru%

Henry Reichman is Professor Emeritus of history at California State University, East Bay. The author of two recent books, Understanding Academic Freedom (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/12/17/author-discusses-his-new-book-academic-freedom and The Future of Academic Freedom (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/04/09/henry-reichman-discusses-his-new-book-future-academic-freedom ).

 

He served as chair of the Association of American University Professors' Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure from 2012 to 2021.

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