Real and Artificial Intelligence: Teaching, Mentoring, and Collaboration in the University Honors Program
In-Person
Abstract
This panel discussion introduces faculty members to the value of engaging with honors education at USU and highlights how teaching and mentoring honors students can enrich broader teaching, research, and/or service roles. Panelists from a variety of disciplines will share examples from their own practices of how experiential learning empowers their students to build strong academic relationships, deepen critical-thinking and communication skills, and develop interdisciplinary problem-solving ability—core honors learning outcomes that prepare students to be thoughtful members of society and users of emerging technologies. The panelists will also discuss the relationship between these student learning outcomes and their own pedagogical choices about whether and how to address artificial intelligence use directly in various learning activities.
The University Honors Program is committed to faculty professional development and creates space, time, financial support, and community for pedagogical exploration focused on emerging technologies, experiential learning, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Honors admits students across statewide campuses and in both bachelor’s and associate degree programs, basing admission not on traditional metrics, such as GPA or test scores, but on students’ motivation to fully engage in their education. By scaffolding high-impact curricular and mentoring experiences, the University Honors Program prepares students to be mindful users of AI and active contributors to their local, national, and global communities.
Presenters
Kristine Miller
Executive Director & Professor
Kristine Miller is a Professor of English and Executive Director of the Utah State University Honors Program. Nationally, she has served on both the Board of Directors and the Publications Board for the National Collegiate Honors Council, and her publications in honors education include a monograph, Building Honors Contracts: Insights and Oversights (2020), and a variety of articles. She is also an award-winning teacher, whose literary-critical research includes many articles and two books: Transatlantic Literature and Culture after 9/11: The Wrong Side of Paradise (2014) and British Literature of the Blitz: Fighting the People’s War (2009). She loves the interdisciplinary nature of honors education and wants to share the fun with as many faculty as possible.
Sunshine Brosi
Professor
Sunshine Brosi, PhD, is a Professor in the Wildland Resources Department and Director of the Online Masters of Natural Resources Program in the S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Agriculture & Natural Resources at USU’s Eastern Campus in Price, Utah. Sunshine has 20 years of honors teaching experience and focuses on incorporating high-impact practices into her study abroad and general education Honors courses, Book Labs, and Honors Mentoring Agreements. She enjoys teaching students through active learning exercises focused on critically evaluating artificial intelligence.
Katie Kraus
Associate Professor
Katie Kraus is an Associate Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics. Her research focuses on sports nutrition and dietetics education. She enjoys mentoring students in the Honors Program, in community engaged learning, and in undergraduate research.
Lucia Gilbert
Assistant Professor
Lucía Sánchez-Gilbert is an Assistant Professor of Spanish in the Department of World Languages and Cultures. She teaches a wide range of courses in the Spanish program and is also an Honors Faculty Fellow leading an experiential-learning course about the Latinx community in Utah. Her research is multifaceted and interdisciplinary, weaving separate but complementary strands: contemporary Latin American and Spanish literature and film, and culturally informed approaches to Languages for Specific Purposes and Community-Engaged Learning.
Elizabeth Vargis
Associate Professor
Dr. Elizabeth Vargis and her research team develop new methods to understand and treat diseases such as macular degeneration. She earned degrees in bioengineering and biomedical engineering from UC Berkeley and Vanderbilt University. Dr. Vargis is deeply committed to mentoring undergraduate researchers and Honors students. She has taught Honors sections of USU’s Connections course, served as a Departmental Honors Advisor, supervised multiple Honors Mentoring Agreements and Honors Capstone Projects, and was recently named an Honors Faculty Fellow. She lives in Logan with her partner, children, and dog.