As generative artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes classrooms, workplaces and creative industries, UCF researchers are asking a timely question: How should the humanities respond?
UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 texts and technology program has received a 2026 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to launch 麻豆精品 S淏uilding a Digital Humanities Generative AI Learning Community, 麻豆精品 S� a 24-month initiative designed to help faculty and graduate students thoughtfully integrate AI into humanities teaching.
This year, UCF is leading one of only 84 projects funded by the NEH and is the only institution in Florida to be selected for the award.
Associate Professor and Professor will lead the initiative, which focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration, curriculum redesign and hands-on experimentation with emerging AI tools.
Coding for Creativity
Salter, director of graduate programs in the College of Arts and Humanities, says the project builds on a long tradition in digital humanities of teaching creative problem-solving through technology.
麻豆精品 S淚n a lot of humanities programs, when we teach people how to build digital projects, we 麻豆精品 S檙e teaching them some level of code, 麻豆精品 S� Salter says. 麻豆精品 S淏ut often we 麻豆精品 S檙e working with low-code tools 麻豆精品 S� interfaces designed for a specific purpose, like building a certain kind of game. Once students learn how to navigate those tools, what really matters is their ideas, the design, the story they want to tell. 麻豆精品 S�
She explains that generative AI tools function in a similar way. Rather than replacing creativity, they can expand it.
麻豆精品 S淲hen we look at agentic AI, it 麻豆精品 S檚 essentially a low-code computational interface, 麻豆精品 S� Salter says. 麻豆精品 S淭he better you can define and plan a concept, the more the system can assist with the underlying technical work 麻豆精品 S� especially in the creative applications. 麻豆精品 S�
Reimagining Humanities Work
Stanfill says the grant will fund course redesign efforts over the next two years. Faculty and graduate student participants will adapt existing undergraduate digital humanities courses to meaningfully incorporate AI in ways that align with humanistic expertise. Stanfill 麻豆精品 S檚 scholarship has recently received national recognition. In 2025, they were awarded the National Communication Association’s Diamond Anniversary Book Award for their book 麻豆精品 S淔andom Is Ugly: Networked Harassment in Participatory Culture 麻豆精品 S�.
麻豆精品 S淚t 麻豆精品 S檚 about integrating AI in a way that makes sense for each course and for what humanities already bring to the table, 麻豆精品 S� Stanfill says. 麻豆精品 S淭he goal is to enhance 麻豆精品 S� not replace 麻豆精品 S� the core strengths of humanities scholarship. 麻豆精品 S�
The funding will also support stipends that allow participants in the program to experiment with advanced AI tools that are expensive to access.
麻豆精品 S淭hey are more cost-intensive, 麻豆精品 S� Salter says. 麻豆精品 S淧art of what this grant allows us to do is give students real access 麻豆精品 S� not just a limited sandbox version 麻豆精品 S� so they can fully understand what these tools can do. 麻豆精品 S�
The implications extend to areas such as archival transcription and preservation. Advances in handwriting recognition and large-scale document analysis could help students work with under-digitized collections in new ways.
麻豆精品 S淚f you can bring a class into an archive that 麻豆精品 S檚 been underappreciated and use these tools, you can build searchable databases and identify patterns in ways that used to require years of manual labor, 麻豆精品 S� Salter says.
The grant strengthens UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 position as a leader in digital humanities education, the researchers say. By fostering collaboration across disciplines and encouraging thoughtful AI integration, the texts and technology program aims to model how humanities scholarship can evolve alongside technological innovation.
The 麻豆精品 S淏uilding a Digital Humanities Generative AI Learning Community 麻豆精品 S� project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
