Dear Faculty Colleagues, 

Nominations and applications for the role of academic ombud are now open for the 2026-2031 academic years. The five-year term for this 12-month, full-time administrative role will begin August 15, 2026. The Office of the Academic Ombud serves a critical role in assisting students, faculty and administration in dispute resolution and the management of difficult academic issues. All faculty, including the incumbent, are eligible to apply.  
  
The academic ombud provides a safe and confidential place to share issues, listens to all concerns and perspectives, helps explore options for resolution, facilitates communication between parties and provides guidance on academic issues and current university policies. The academic ombud will provide a mechanism for handling issues for which no established procedures exist or for which established procedures have not yielded a satisfactory solution. Any student may file an appeal of an alleged violation of their academic rights, or of an allegation of an academic offense, through the Office of the Academic Ombud. Reporting directly to the Provost, the academic ombud provides systemic feedback to campus leadership on academic matters and promotes fair and respectful instructional environments across the university. 

Responsibilities: 

• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of institutional policies and procedures, and guide faculty, staff and students to appropriate university offices or formal complaint channels. 
• Assist in resolving academic conflicts and concerns, provide coaching for individuals and facilitate restorative dialogue. 
• Conduct presentations and workshops on conflict resolution, academic integrity and the role of the academic ombud office.  
• Present an annual report and identify trends in concerns or systemic issues. 
• Hire and manage staff and oversee budget and operations. 
• Represent University of Kentucky in national and regional ombuds networks.

Preferred qualifications: 

• Member of graduate faculty, with tenure. 
• Experience in conflict resolution, mediation or higher education administration. 
• Demonstrated knowledge of the International Ombuds Association Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics. 
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills. 
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and independence. 
• Experience working within complex institutions.

Interested applicants should compile the following application materials: 

1. A letter of interest;  
2. A statement of their philosophy which articulates their vision for student success and the intersection of that with the role of an academic ombud;  
3. A current curriculum vita (CV);  
4. At least two letters of support; and   
5. An additional letter of support from your dean, indicating a willingness to allow the appointment. 

Please click here to upload these materials. The deadline for applying is Friday, July 10. Review of applications will begin the following week. 

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. 

Sincerely, 

Rebecca Thomas 
Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement

Dear Faculty Members,

Please carefully review the 2025-26 Provost’s Annual Memo on Consulting and Employment Outside the University and consider how this information may apply to your work both at UK and outside the institution.

Thank you for all you continue to do for our campus community.

S. Rebecca Thomas
Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement

Dear Faculty Members,

Please carefully review the 2024-25 Provost’s Annual Memo on Consulting and Employment Outside the University and consider how this information may apply to your work both at UK and outside the institution.

We recognize that this can be a complex topic, so we will hold two virtual town halls to present information and answer any questions you may have about these topics. You may attend either session, as they will cover the same information.

• 3-4 p.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024 (https://uky.zoom.us/j/83205902914?from=addon)
• 11 a.m.-noon EDT Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024 (https://uky.zoom.us/j/85049583907?from=addon)

Thank you for all you continue to do for our campus community.

Lisa Tannock, MD 
Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement

Dear Colleagues,

The University of Kentucky community is full of talented people with bright futures. When we facilitate the growth and development of our people, we ensure the continued success of our university. We strive to be an institution where all individuals see room for their own growth and feel the encouragement needed to reach their potential. The Women’s Executive Leadership Development (WELD) program plays a central role in this work.

The WELD program is accepting applications for the next cohort of participants for 2024. Plans call for the eight-month-long program, involving 20-25 faculty and staff, to begin in April 2024 and conclude in December 2024. Applicants should be mid-to-senior level faculty (associate professor or professor or senior lecturer) and staff in executive, director or managerial positions and should be able to demonstrate their leadership experience. For faculty members, this experience might include serving as director of undergraduate or graduate studies; department chair; program, division or center director; or assistant or associate dean. For staff, this leadership experience might include working as a division supervisor, a department director or other similar leadership roles.   

WELD was created with the primary goal of increasing the representation of women in academic leadership capacities and assisting women in seeking academic leadership roles to acquire the skills and capabilities necessary to attain high-level academic leadership positions. While gender equity in academic leadership remains the primary goal, the program is open to all individuals on campus, regardless of their gender. 

Faculty or staff interested in applying for the 2024 WELD cohort should go to the WELD application website to begin the process. Applications will be accepted until Friday, January 12, 2024, and selections will be announced in late February 2024.
 
The program is coordinated under the oversight of the Office for Faculty Advancement with assistance from Human Resources.
 
Questions about the program may be directed to Lisa Tannock at lisa.tannock@uky.edu.
 
Lisa Tannock
Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement
 
Melissa Frederick
Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer

Dear Faculty Members,

I am pleased to announce an opportunity for a colleague to serve as Assistant Provost for Faculty Professional Development. Reporting to the Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement, the individual selected for this position will be responsible for faculty employee development on behalf of the Office of the Provost. The position is vacant until filled, with an anticipated start date on or before Jan. 1, 2024.

This position exists to develop and oversee workshops and strategies to increase faculty belonging, engagement and retention — essential to Taking Care of Our People, as outlined in our strategic plan, UK-PURPOSE. They will serve as a resource for any faculty who need support, guidance or advice.

This is a half-time appointment, and tenured faculty members on any assignment period are eligible to apply. If you are interested, you can learn more about the position here. If you wish to apply, please send a letter of interest and your curriculum vitae to lisa.tannock@uky.edu by Nov. 1, 2023.

Thank you for all you do for our campus community.

Sincerely,

Lisa Tannock, MD

Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement

Dear Faculty Members,

Please review the Provost’s Annual Memo on Consulting and Employment Outside the University (2023-24), and consider how this important information applies to you and your work at UK.

I would also like to invite you to two town hall meetings on the topic of consulting and conflicts of interest. Both town halls will cover the same material, so you do not need to attend both sessions. You can register to attend using the links below. If there is a lot of interest, we will add additional times.

Town Hall on Consulting and Conflict of Interest (via Zoom)

• Thursday, Oct. 5, 12-1 p.m.: https://forms.office.com/r/LfxTqy1XEv
• Tuesday, Oct. 10, 4-5 p.m.: https://forms.office.com/r/Mdq6n1VyyY

Thank you for all you do for our campus community.

Sincerely,

Lisa Tannock, MD

Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement

Dear Colleagues,

As we approach the last few weeks of this semester, instructors are preparing to receive final papers, projects and final examinations.

We are committed to upholding academic integrity and ensuring fairness. As part of that process, we want to highlight resources available to support proctoring and plagiarism detection.

Earlier this month, Turnitin – a vendor we utilize – began providing an artificial intelligence (AI) detector, integrated with Canvas, which offers an estimate of how many sentences in a written submission may have been generated by artificial intelligence.

According to the software developers, educators can use this estimate, as they do with the plagiarism detector output, to determine if further review, inquiry or discussion with the student is needed. There is not a way of opting out of seeing the AI detection score (though students cannot see it). Additionally, the tool analyzes only prose sentences in long-form writing such as paragraphs. It does not analyze languages other than English.

Below are a few points to consider – and some points of caution – as we begin to encounter the AI detection score on Turnitin reports.

We don’t confidently know much about the accuracy of AI writing detectors at this point. AI-generated writing is a novel development, and AI detectors even more so. There has not been enough time for scholarly or professional communities to verify Turnitin claims regarding its detector’s efficacy in terms of both identifying writing that was generated by AI and avoiding false positives.

In fact, Turnitin has included a warning on the AI detection score that the “percentage may not indicate academic misconduct.” Evidence suggests that the accuracy of AI detectors is low, they generate false positives and AI detectors might not flag writing that has been human edited after initially being generated by AI.

Writing that is flagged by Turnitin AI detector cannot be checked against other evidence. In the case of the Turnitin originality detector, passages in the student’s text are linked to writing that can be found either on the internet or in Turnitin’s database of writing. Instructors can view these samples side by side in the Turnitin user interface.

For the AI detector, however, there is no other source to corroborate any flags. The percentage score that the detector presents is the result of a computational analysis based on an emerging (and rapidly evolving) understanding of how AI generates writing using large language models.

The introduction of Turnitin’s AI detector at the end of the semester is potentially disruptive and, as such, should be used with appropriate caution. Students and instructors have not had time to acclimate to the AI detector score in Turnitin reports, and students have been submitting work throughout the semester without the scrutiny of this specific tool.

There is little time left in the semester to properly understand and act upon the AI detection score, and the stakes for assessment and grading can feel particularly high at the end of the term.

Different courses and instructors may have different policies and stances on the use of AI for writing, and students have not had a chance to explore those differences in the context of AI detection scores.

We want to uphold academic integrity while putting students first. Given that the reliability of AI detectors is uncertain, they may introduce unfair bias into the grading process. It is also important to note that students cannot see their AI detection score, even if the instructor has allowed students access to the Turnitin report.

Overall, we want to foster learning environments where students feel that they belong, and where they feel supported and encouraged by their instructors.

AI detector scores should be handled sensitively and with healthy skepticism. If instructors wish to proceed with the determination of an academic offense, the usual procedures outlined in the Senate Rules should be followed.

As we rapidly approach the end of the semester, we hope these points for consideration and caution are helpful as you evaluate the work of our students and work with them to be as successful as possible.

Thank you for all you do for our students and the university. We wish you all the best as the semester winds down.

Sue Nokes, Acting Associate Provost for Faculty Advancement