Provost’s blog

Because artificial intelligence has the potential to transform how we work, teach, learn and conduct research, each one of our voices is important to shape the University’s vision and strategy for AI. All faculty, staff and students may contribute in the following ways: 

Read the report 

The AI Task Force recently released its report with recommendations, available in narrative and slide format.

Take the survey by 5 p.m., Oct. 25 

Responding to the survey by Oct. 25 is one way for you to contribute to and shape the vision of a human-centered and equitable, AI-fueled transformation in teaching, learning, research, student success and operations. Survey results will help the task force to better understand how UW community members are already engaging with AI technologies and the impacts of AI on learning, work, and research. The main section of the survey addresses the proposed vision, strategy, recommendations and roadmap for AI as outlined in the AI Task Force report. 

Attend an online town hall 

Each town hall will explore a different aspect of the future of AI at the UW and will include a moderated question and response session where everyone is encouraged to share their perspectives. All town halls will start at noon PST and end at 1:20 p.m. Check back here next week for the YouTube link that will give you access.   

AI for Teaching & Learning	Wed., Oct. 16
AI Education	Thurs., Oct. 17
AI Infrastructure	Thurs., Oct. 24
AI for Student Success	Mon., Oct. 28
AI for Administration	Tues., Oct. 29
AI for Research and Research in AI	Wed., Oct. 30

The more voices and input we have, the more equitable and ethical our strategies and approaches to AI will be. Thank you for your participation and contributions to this ongoing conversation. 

I am a biochemist, which means that I know more about biochemistry than the average person. In reality, I know quite a lot about a small subfield of biochemistry – yeast prions, which I have spent my entire independent career researching. Even so, every time I read a new publication or see a new result from my laboratory, I appreciate, and am humbled by, how much more there is to learn. Such is the motivation for an academic life, isn’t it? 

A key aspect of that motivation for me is talking about my work with others – colleagues, collaborators, trainees – really anyone who will engage with me. I have seen the breakthroughs that happen when someone looks at an old problem in a new way. It can be as simple as asking a question that makes me think about the problem differently, or it can be as exciting as bringing a new set of skills outside of my own to reveal a path beyond my intuition. I cannot imagine being a biochemist in isolation. 

But beyond the strongly held perspectives of people (including me) who have spent a lifetime thinking about something, biochemistry is generally non-controversial on its own. That changed in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic, when topics like RNA, variants, antigens, and R0 became dinner conversation. While the underlying science is the same, the processes of discovery, understanding, and intervention intersected with and were shaped by lived experiences with profound implications for public health outcomes. 

I am a first-generation college graduate, and I was deluged with questions from family members about things that they had read. I am grateful that I could be a trusted resource for them. I also understood that they did not feel comfortable talking with other people because differences in perspective were not seen as opportunities to promote learning but rather as an insurmountable division.  

This distinction in how biochemistry is practiced and perceived was striking to me, but only at first. I hold opinions on a range of topics for which I am far from an expert. As I thought about this reality in parallel with what I had witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic, I had to acknowledge that at times it feels increasingly difficult to find spaces where my opinions outside of my area of expertise can be meaningfully explored and challenged.  

That simply shouldn’t be the case because we are fortunate to be immersed in a community with comprehensive expertise. It is my hope that we can rededicate ourselves to teaching the skills of learning across differences in our own disciplines and to engaging with them ourselves across the breadth of our University. Below are some opportunities that we have been developing and supporting in collaboration throughout academic affairs. 

Dialogue across differences 

Each first-year UW student this year will view a welcome video from me that centers the values of curiosity, awareness and productive dialogue in their educational journey and encourages them to watch for misinformation. In addition, First Year Programs has trained peer facilitators to provide training to students on dialogue across differences. 

Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor has developed a tri-campus course, 2024: Dialogue, Disagreement and Democracy, for students to explore how building stronger connections with each other and finding common ground and compromise can strengthen our democracy. 

Vice Provost Fred Nafukho and I are working with the mediation clinic in the School of Law to develop and launch training on conflict engagement and resolution for faculty and academic administrators. Information on how to participate will be shared later this fall. 

 Informed voting 

We have collated a number of resources for navigating the 2024 election on a new website.  

Among these resources is a lecture series “Democracy in Focus,” co-sponsored by my office and the College of Arts & Sciences. This series provides an opportunity for unpacking the complexity of elections through an exploration of related topics, including:  

• Polarization, Persuasion and Talking Across Difference  
• Protecting Information Integrity 
• Zooming Out: 2024 Elections in Historical, Social and Cultural Contexts 
• Presidential Power 
• Who Votes and Why Voting Matters 

These lectures are offered by faculty from the College of Arts & Sciences, the Law School, the iSchool and the Evans School. Lectures will held in person on the Seattle campus (locations vary) at 4 p.m. every Tuesday leading up to the election and will also be livestreamed to all three campuses. 

Interdisciplinary University Initiatives 

With the support of the Executive Office of the President and Provost, our deans and administrative leaders have been working to identify, incubate and launch campus-wide interdisciplinary initiatives that leverage the unique strengths of the UW to address grand challenges in society. As the framework for these initiatives comes into focus, we will collect feedback and expand opportunities for participation across the three campuses.  

The first of the initiatives to reach this stage is the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, which recently posted its framework – called Washington AI Initiative for Society, Teaching, and Research (WAISTAR) – for integrating a vision and strategy for AI at the UW. I encourage you to read the report and participate in  the town halls occurring throughout October on each of the core pillars: Teaching and Learning, Education, Infrastructure, Student Success, Administration, and Research and Research in AI. Your input will shape the future of this important work. Also, a survey will be posted on the website later this fall. 

I hope that you will agree that these three initiatives are concrete examples of how our different perspectives, when integrated together, can enrich our mission in ways that are authentic to the UW. I invite you to engage in these and other opportunities to connect and collaborate throughout the academic year. 

One of the joys of an academic career is the freedom to explore what intrigues us. We have the agency to become experts in the fields of our own choosing, to self-direct our collaborations, discoveries, innovations, and creations and to follow a line of inquiry wherever it leads. We also have the unparalleled privilege to continuously integrate our knowledge and perspectives with those of our students through our partnership with them in teaching and learning, as both instructors and mentors.

As President Cauce noted in her recent communication about expectations and responsibilities of our UW community, our contributions to the mission of our University and thereby the world flow directly from this foundation of academic freedom and free speech. As I suspect is true of many of you, I have chosen this profession because I believe deeply in the importance of these freedoms for the common good and have personally experienced their positive impact through my own education, teaching, research, service and outreach.

We begin a new academic year during a time of significant discord and conflict across the globe and in the midst of an upcoming election. It is my hope that we can draw together to not only protect but also uphold these freedoms as our collective responsibility and to ensure that they are available to all members of our University. I ask each one of us to pursue this responsibility with intentionality throughout our academic activities and particularly in our courses.

In support of this work, I am writing to share a few reminders and resources.

Inclusive Learning Environment
As faculty and instructors, you are the trusted subject matter experts, who embody our educational mission. The ethics of our profession, the Faculty Code (Section 24-33) and federal regulations detail both our rights and responsibilities to ensure an environment that supports learning for all students. These balanced responsibilities also ensure that all learners have access to the same rights in their educational environments. As detailed in the Faculty Code, key components of our responsibilities include:

• respecting the dignity of others
• acknowledging the right to express differing opinions
• presenting the subject matter of our courses as approved by the faculty in their collective responsibility for the curriculum
• evaluating students based on academic performance alone
• refraining from:
  • coercion of students to make a particular personal choice as to political action or their own roles in society
  • harassment or discrimination

In ensuring these principles, we must be particularly mindful of the positionality of our students even as we engage them as partners in learning. I encourage you to explore the following resources to intentionally and transparently create and maintain an inclusive learning environment:

• Teaching@UW advice on facilitating class conversations
• Faculty Senate workshop on academic freedom and free speech in the classroom
• Civil Discourse in the Classroom
• Tips for Nurturing a Climate of Free Expression and Inclusion

In parallel, we are supporting students to further develop their own skills in dialogue across differences through First Year Programs and LEAD 298C “2024: Dialogue, Disagreement, and Democracy” offered by Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor across our three campuses. Additional information can be found at https://dialogue.uw.edu.

Election
As employees of the state of Washington, we are all bound by the regulations in the Ethics in Public Service Act. Information on our responsibilities can be found on the Internal Audit website and includes restrictions on using state resources:

• To assist a campaign
• To promote or oppose a ballot initiative
• To lobby the state legislature

I encourage you to participate in the many opportunities for learning about elections across our University this fall, many of which will be listed on the Office of the Provost’s website later this week. I especially call your attention to the lecture series “Democracy in Focus: Navigating the 2024 Election” that is co-sponsored by my office and the College of Arts & Sciences, occurring each Tuesday leading up to election day and culminating the week after, the Public Lecture Series sponsored by the Graduate School, and a resource guide developed by the Libraries.

Student Life and the Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity will also be offering programming and information for students to support their engagement with the democratic process.

Finally, I want to stress the importance of your own well-being in these challenging times. The Whole U offers many resources to support and promote faculty and staff well-being. I encourage you to not only explore these resources but also prioritize time to care for yourself.

I thank you for all that you do for the University of Washington. Your voice and contributions collectively define our excellence as an institution. Please join me in ensuring that we protect this opportunity for everyone.