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GEMS, LLMs, and AI: Oh My! 

The "Great and Powerful" AI doesn’t have to be a mysterious force behind a curtain. In this hands-on, play-focused workshop, we move beyond the hype of generic AI-generated content to explore the power of Collaborative AI.

Instead of relying on the vast, unfiltered knowledge of a general LLM, we will focus on how educators can use their own faculty expertise to "curate the magic." In this workshop, participants  will learn to guide tools like Gemini, NotebookLM, and Custom Gems using their own original course materials, instructor-created content, and research. The goal is to build AI collaborators that are deeply connected to your voice and your curriculum, supporting responsible and context-aware use in the classroom.

From "Teaching the Tool" to "Adaptive Thinking": AI is always changing and will continue to do so but essential skills like critical thinning and learning to learn will remain constant.  This session isn’t just a software tutorial. We are focusing on the "Heart, Brains, and Courage" of AI use:

• Brains (Critical Thinking): Evaluating AI outputs against your disciplinary expertise.
• Heart (Responsible Use): Ensuring AI-human collaboration respects original scholarship and student learning.
• Courage (Adaptive Thinking): Building the "learning-to-learn" mindset that prepares you for whatever version of AI emerges over the horizon next year.

What to Expect: Play in the Land of Oz. This workshop is designed as a sandbox for exploration so participants can expect a low-stress, fun environment that does not require your ‘strictly work’ hat. You will have the time and space to:

• Converse with Models: Experience what it actually feels like to treat Gemini as a thought partner, not just a search engine.
• Build Your Own "Gems": Transform your syllabus or lecture notes into a specialized AI assistant that knows your specific teaching style.
• Explore Multimodal Potential: Experiment with Gemini in various modes—text, voice, and analysis—to see where it fits (and where it doesn't) in your workflow.

Takeaway Participants will  leave not just knowing how to click buttons in a specific app, but with a foundational understanding of how to lead AI tools through the lens of your own expertise—no matter how much the technology shifts and changes.

Friday, February 13, 2026 
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Virtual Session |  Zoom

Guest Speaker Justin Cary, Program Director for CHAI: AI Analysis, Application, and Ethics in Society, UNC-Chapel Hill

Justin Cary currently serves as Program Director for CHAI: AI Analysis, Application, and Ethics in Society.  This exciting new Interdisciplinary Studies degree concentration offering both a Major and Minor supports the vision of UNC Charlotte's College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences of a future in which graduates studying and using AI center human skills, ethical frameworks, and critical thinking, preparing them to address the complex and important questions and challenges facing the world today.  For over ten years, Cary has served students at Charlotte as a Senior Lecturer in the Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies Department and is a firm believer in the power of technology to empower and support students when used responsibly and critically. Cary fosters creation-first learning environments in his writing courses through AI Literacy to create agency for students, reshaping and redesigning educational experiences that foster active learning with AI, collaborative conversations, critical reflection, evaluation of AI outputs and much more.  As an AI Faculty Fellow with Charlotte's Center for Teaching and Learning, Cary loves working with colleagues to learn, collaborate, and innovate with AI in teaching and learning and entering into key critical conversations about the role of emerging technologies in higher education.  Cary is also a big gamer so feel free to challenge him to a round of Mario Kart any day of week!

 

Purpose & Pathways: An Educator's Retreat for Fostering Career-Ready Students

The Spring 2026 Educator's Retreat is a full-day professional development experience designed to help faculty across disciplines intentionally embed career readiness into the student experience. The retreat begins with an exploration of curricular approaches, highlighting current initiatives and actionable strategies for deepening career readiness within academic programs. Participants will go on to examine best practices from peer institutions and consider how applied experiences, community engagement, professional development, and research opportunities contribute to career-ready planning and outcomes at the program level and school-wide.

The interactive afternoon sessions will focus on integrating employer-valued competencies into coursework as well as breakout sessions. Through collaboration with Career Services, the Provost's Office, and the Spring 2025 Provost Faculty Fellows, attendees will leave with a well-rounded understanding of best practices within and beyond USM, as well as practical methods to connect classroom learning to real-world skills and help faculty chart purposeful pathways for students from education to meaningful careers.

• Gain strategies for fostering career-ready learning outcomes
• Connect share ideas with campus colleagues  
• Take away actionable tools for your own courses and program development 

Join us as we align our educational purpose with the pathways that guide students toward meaningful and fulfilling careers. 

January 14, 2026
8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.
In-Person Session | EHH 120

View Sessions and Register

ORSD-Research Development Training & Engagement Winter Grant Writing Series

Part One: Engaging Inquiry to Develop a Powerful Grant Proposal 

This workshop is designed to enhance participants’ proposal writing skills by first engaging the Six Critical Questions framework to take an idea and plan impactful outcomes. Individual work and interactive discussions will provide clarity, insights, and actionable next steps to invigorate research initiatives. An interdisciplinary approach will foster a supportive environment for academic growth, collaboration, and innovation. 

Maximize the benefits of your workshop experience by also registering for Part Two: The Proposal Writing Retreat, to be held on February 20th, in partnership with The Writing Center, on the Hattiesburg campus (in-person attendance only). 

January 30, 2026
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. 
Hybrid Session | IC 318 & Teams

Register to attend these two valuable workshops to enhance your grant writing skills!

 

ORSD-Research Development Training & Engagement Winter Grant Writing Series

Part Two: The Proposal Writing Retreat

Close out the first month of the new semester with a full day of productive writing in a relaxed atmosphere among your colleagues! ORSD has partnered with The Writing Center to provide space and resources for you to create a document that is ready-for-review by a Program Officer. Writing Center staff will be available to assist with writing style nuances, while ORSD staff will offer guidance on additional parts of the proposal development process. The ultimate goal for The Writing Retreat is for you to walk away, confidently, with a well-written project summary on which a Program Officer could provide feedback relative to the sponsor's mission and priorities.

Friday, February 20, 2026
8:30-11:00 a.m. | Break for Lunch | 1:00-4:00 p.m.
The Writing Center, Cook Library (Hattiesburg Campus)
In-person Session Only

Show Up & Write! Sessions for Spring 2026
 

Show Up & Write! is hosted weekly on Teams by the Center for Faculty Development and provides a quiet, virtual space for dedicated writing time. The writing group aims to support faculty, staff, and graduate research by designating time for writing and increasing productivity through peer support and personal accountability. While in this virtual writing space, plan to focus your time on productive writing for an article, book chapter, grant proposal, blog, or other project.  

Show Up & Write! will meet on Teams every Tuesday this spring from 11:00 am - 1:00 p.m. beginning January 27, and concluding April 29, 2026. 

Mark the dates on your calendar: 

January 27
February 3, 10, 24
March 3, 10, 24, 31
April 7, 14, 21, 28

These sessions are come-and-go as needed for your schedule and do not include peer exchange. Faculty, staff and graduate students from all disciplines and ranks are welcome to attend. If this peaks your interest, fill out the information below for a reminder/calendar invite along with the Teams information to join virtually.

Turnitin Best Practices and Support

This workshop will be facilitated by Turnitin and will include not only how to’s in Turnitin, but also discussion and best practices related to the AI detector and scores. 

Presenter:
Danielle D'Andrea, Senior Onboarding Consultant, Turnitin

Friday, January 30, 2026 
1:00 - 2:00 pm
Virtual Session |  Zoom

Purpose & Pathways: An Educator's Retreat for Fostering Career-Ready Students

The Spring 2026 Educator's Retreat is a full-day professional development experience designed to help faculty across disciplines intentionally embed career readiness into the student experience. The retreat begins with an exploration of curricular approaches, highlighting current initiatives and actionable strategies for deepening career readiness within academic programs. Participants will go on to examine best practices from peer institutions and consider how applied experiences, community engagement, professional development, and research opportunities contribute to career-ready planning and outcomes at the program level and school-wide.

The interactive afternoon sessions will focus on integrating employer-valued competencies into coursework as well as breakout sessions. Through collaboration with Career Services, the Provost's Office, and the Spring 2025 Provost Faculty Fellows, attendees will leave with a well-rounded understanding of best practices within and beyond USM, as well as practical methods to connect classroom learning to real-world skills and help faculty chart purposeful pathways for students from education to meaningful careers.

• Gain strategies for fostering career-ready learning outcomes
• Connect share ideas with campus colleagues  
• Take away actionable tools for your own courses and program development 

Join us as we align our educational purpose with the pathways that guide students toward meaningful and fulfilling careers. 

January 14, 2026
8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. 
In-Person Session | EHH 120

View Sessions and Register

Show Up & Write! Sessions for Spring 2026
 

Show Up & Write! is hosted weekly on Teams by the Center for Faculty Development and provides a quiet, virtual space for dedicated writing time. The writing group aims to support faculty, staff, and graduate research by designating time for writing and increasing productivity through peer support and personal accountability. While in this virtual writing space, plan to focus your time on productive writing for an article, book chapter, grant proposal, blog, or other project.  

Show Up & Write! will meet on Teams every Tuesday this spring from 11:00 am - 1:00 p.m. beginning January 27, and concluding April 29, 2026. 

Mark the dates on your calendar: 

January 27
February 3, 10, 24
March 3, 10, 24, 31
April 7, 14, 21, 28

These sessions are come-and-go as needed for your schedule and do not include peer exchange. Faculty, staff and graduate students from all disciplines and ranks are welcome to attend. If this peaks your interest, fill out the information below for a reminder/calendar invite along with the Teams information to join virtually.

ORSD-Research Development Training & Engagement Winter Grant Writing Series

Part One: Engaging Inquiry to Develop a Powerful Grant Proposal 

This workshop is designed to enhance participants’ proposal writing skills by first engaging the Six Critical Questions framework to take an idea and plan impactful outcomes. Individual work and interactive discussions will provide clarity, insights, and actionable next steps to invigorate research initiatives. An interdisciplinary approach will foster a supportive environment for academic growth, collaboration, and innovation. 

Maximize the benefits of your workshop experience by also registering for , to be held February 20th, in partnership with The Writing Center, on the Hattiesburg campus (in-person attendance only). 

January 30, 2026
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Hybrid Session | IC 318 & Teams

Register to attend these two valuable workshops to enhance your grant writing skills!

Turnitin Best Practices and Support

This workshop will be facilitated by Turnitin and will include not only how to’s in Turnitin, but also discussion and best practices related to the AI detector and scores. 

Presenter:
Danielle D'Andrea, Senior Onboarding Consultant, Turnitin

Friday, January 30, 2026 
1:00 - 2:00 pm
Virtual Session |  Zoom

Show Up & Write! Sessions for Spring 2026

 
Show Up & Write! is hosted weekly on Teams by the Center for Faculty Development and provides a quiet, virtual space for dedicated writing time. The writing group aims to support faculty, staff, and graduate research by designating time for writing and increasing productivity through peer support and personal accountability. While in this virtual writing space, plan to focus your time on productive writing for an article, book chapter, grant proposal, blog, or other project.  

Show Up & Write! will meet on Teams every Tuesday this spring from 11:00 am - 1:00 p.m. beginning January 27, and concluding April 29, 2026. 

Mark the dates on your calendar: 

February 3, 10, 24
March 3, 10, 24, 31
April 7, 14, 21, 28

These sessions are come-and-go as needed for your schedule and do not include peer exchange. Faculty, staff and graduate students from all disciplines and ranks are welcome to attend. If this peaks your interest, fill out the information below for a reminder/calendar invite along with the Teams information to join virtually.

GEMS, LLMs, and AI: Oh My! 

The "Great and Powerful" AI doesn’t have to be a mysterious force behind a curtain. In this hands-on, play-focused workshop, we move beyond the hype of generic AI-generated content to explore the power of Collaborative AI.

Instead of relying on the vast, unfiltered knowledge of a general LLM, we will focus on how educators can use their own faculty expertise to "curate the magic." In this workshop, participants  will learn to guide tools like Gemini, NotebookLM, and Custom Gems using their own original course materials, instructor-created content, and research. The goal is to build AI collaborators that are deeply connected to your voice and your curriculum, supporting responsible and context-aware use in the classroom.

From "Teaching the Tool" to "Adaptive Thinking": AI is always changing and will continue to do so but essential skills like critical thinning and learning to learn will remain constant.  This session isn’t just a software tutorial. We are focusing on the "Heart, Brains, and Courage" of AI use:

• Brains (Critical Thinking): Evaluating AI outputs against your disciplinary expertise.
• Heart (Responsible Use): Ensuring AI-human collaboration respects original scholarship and student learning.
• Courage (Adaptive Thinking): Building the "learning-to-learn" mindset that prepares you for whatever version of AI emerges over the horizon next year.

What to Expect: Play in the Land of Oz. This workshop is designed as a sandbox for exploration so participants can expect a low-stress, fun environment that does not require your ‘strictly work’ hat. You will have the time and space to:

• Converse with Models: Experience what it actually feels like to treat Gemini as a thought partner, not just a search engine.
• Build Your Own "Gems": Transform your syllabus or lecture notes into a specialized AI assistant that knows your specific teaching style.
• Explore Multimodal Potential: Experiment with Gemini in various modes—text, voice, and analysis—to see where it fits (and where it doesn't) in your workflow.

Takeaway Participants will  leave not just knowing how to click buttons in a specific app, but with a foundational understanding of how to lead AI tools through the lens of your own expertise—no matter how much the technology shifts and changes.

Friday, February 13, 2026
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Virtual Session |  Zoom

Guest Speaker Justin Cary, Program Director for CHAI: AI Analysis, Application, and Ethics in Society, UNC-Chapel Hill

Justin Cary currently serves as Program Director for CHAI: AI Analysis, Application, and Ethics in Society.  This exciting new Interdisciplinary Studies degree concentration offering both a Major and Minor supports the vision of UNC Charlotte's College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences of a future in which graduates studying and using AI center human skills, ethical frameworks, and critical thinking, preparing them to address the complex and important questions and challenges facing the world today.  For over ten years, Cary has served students at Charlotte as a Senior Lecturer in the Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies Department and is a firm believer in the power of technology to empower and support students when used responsibly and critically. Cary fosters creation-first learning environments in his writing courses through AI Literacy to create agency for students, reshaping and redesigning educational experiences that foster active learning with AI, collaborative conversations, critical reflection, evaluation of AI outputs and much more.  As an AI Faculty Fellow with Charlotte's Center for Teaching and Learning, Cary loves working with colleagues to learn, collaborate, and innovate with AI in teaching and learning and entering into key critical conversations about the role of emerging technologies in higher education.  Cary is also a big gamer so feel free to challenge him to a round of Mario Kart any day of week!

 

ORSD-Research Development Training & Engagement Winter Grant Writing Series

Part Two: The Proposal Writing Retreat

Close out the first month of the new semester with a full day of productive writing in a relaxed atmosphere among your colleagues! ORSD has partnered with The Writing Center to provide space and resources for you to create a document that is ready-for-review by a Program Officer. Writing Center staff will be available to assist with writing style nuances, while ORSD staff will offer guidance on additional parts of the proposal development process. The ultimate goal for The Writing Retreat is for you to walk away, confidently, with a well-written project summary on which a Program Officer could provide feedback relative to the sponsor's mission and priorities.

Friday, February 20, 2026
8:30-11:00 a.m. | Break for Lunch | 1:00-4:00 p.m.
The Writing Center, Cook Library (Hattiesburg Campus)
In-person Session Only