2026 Faculty and Staff Symposium
Partners with Purpose: Elevating the Value of the UF Degree Through the Career Ecosystem
- Date: April 24, 2026
- Time: 8:30 AM – 4:00 PM
- Location: J. Wayne Reitz Union, Grand Ballroom & Adjacent Classrooms, University of Florida
The University of Florida career ecosystem provides students with transformative experiences that drive academic growth, skill development, and lifelong success. By blending academic excellence with real-world application, we amplify the value of a UF degree. This year’s Faculty & Staff Career Symposium highlights how faculty and staff champion career readiness as a core part of their role and identity that supports the student experience. Together, we ensure every UF graduate enters the global community prepared for work, citizenship, and life.
Through enriching presentations and discussions, participants will:
- Understand how career learning transforms the UF student experience
- Learn practical ways to transform and integrate career readiness into your role to strengthen post-graduation success.
- Discover innovative strategies to embed industry trends, work-based learning, and skill development to ensure students gain both credentials and confidence for tomorrow’s workforce.
- Connect with industry leaders and like-minded peers who are ready to advance their own professional development and amplify the UF degree.
Agenda
- 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM: Morning Mingle, Check-in, Coffee, and Continential Breakfast
- 9:15 AM - 9:45 AM: Welcome and Career at UF Updates
- Ja’Net Glover, Associate Vice President for Career and Integrative Partnerships and Executive Director of the Career Connections Center
- 9:50 AM - 10:50 AM: Keynote-
- Kathleen deLaski - Founder and Board Chair for Education Design Lab
- 10:50 AM - 11:00 AM: Break
- 11:00 AM - 11:45 PM: Breakout Sessions #1
- Option A: Copilot Basics for Education
- Unlock the Power of Microsoft Copilot: Copilot Basics for Education
- Presenter: Nathan Wells – Phygital Labs
- Option B:
- From Insight to Impact: Using Student Outcomes and Labor Market Data to Shape Curriculum and Career Readiness
- Presenters: Angel Iverson and Julia Volrath – UF Career Connections Center
- Option C:
- Beyond ChatGPT: What Students Need to Succeed in an AI Workforce
- Presenter: Delores C.S. James, Associate Professor and Director of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Initiatives in the Department of Health Education and Behavior
- Option A: Copilot Basics for Education
- 11:45 PM - 12:00 PM: Break
- 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM: Lunch & Career Influencer Awards Recognition (Sara Jay & Co.)
- 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM: Breakout Session 2
- Option A:
- Building Skills to Advance Your Innovations and Career
- Presenters: Anita Rao - Program Director of UF Innovate I Pathways and the NSF I-Corps program and Benjamin Lok is the faculty advocate for the NSF I-Corps program
- Option B:
- From silos to systems: Building capacity for experiential learning across the liberal arts and sciences
- Presenter: Taylor Stokes, Beyond120 Director
- Option C:
- Unlock the Power of Microsoft Copilot: Hands-On with Copilot – Boost Efficiency and Creativity
- Presenter: Nathan Wells – Phygital Labs
- Option A:
- 2:15 PM - 2:30 PM: Break
- 2:30 PM - 3:50 PM: General Session - Dr. Mary Gatta and NACE Fellows
- 3:50 PM - 4:00 PM: Closing
Kathleen deLaski
Keynote Speaker
Faculty & Staff Career Symposium Keynote: Preparing for an AI-Driven Future
As higher education continues to evolve alongside rapid technological change, one question is top of mind for educators everywhere: how do we best prepare students for a future shaped by artificial intelligence?
At the University of Florida’s upcoming Faculty & Staff Career Symposium, keynote speaker Kathleen deLaski will tackle this question head-on in her session, “Preparing Students for an AI-Driven Future: A New Learning Contract for Career Readiness.”
About the Speaker
Kathleen deLaski is the bestselling author of Who Needs College Anymore? and founder and board chair of the Education Design Lab, which has partnered with over 1,200 colleges, states, and employers to design shorter, skills-focused pathways in higher education. She pioneered the “micro-pathway” model and helps employers look beyond degrees to validate skills. Kathleen serves as a senior advisor for Harvard Project on the Workforce, teaches higher education redesign at George Mason University, and leads the deLaski Family Foundation. Earlier in her career, she held leadership roles at Sallie Mae, was a television correspondent for ABC News, and served as the first woman chief Pentagon spokesperson. She has been named one of Washingtonian Magazine’s top policy influencers each year from 2022 to 2025.
A Defining Moment for Higher Education
In this forward-looking keynote, Kathleen deLaski invites faculty and staff to see AI as a powerful catalyst for strengthening how universities prepare students for meaningful careers.
deLaski will introduce a compelling framework for a “new learning contract,” offering practical ways to connect academic experiences with evolving career pathways more clearly. From embedding experiential learning and real-world problem-solving into the student experience to guiding students in the effective and responsible use of AI tools, this session will highlight strategies faculty and staff can adapt in their roles to support student learning and career readiness.
She will also address the realities of an uncertain and rapidly changing job market, helping participants reframe these challenges as opportunities for innovation and leadership in higher education. Attendees will leave with a clearer vision for how institutions like the University of Florida can take the lead in preparing graduates not only to succeed in an AI-driven economy but to shape its future with confidence, adaptability, and purpose.