{"id":4282,"date":"2026-07-17T13:37:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T17:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/?page_id=4282"},"modified":"2026-08-13T15:37:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:37:05","slug":"texts-tech-2026","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/texts-tech-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"2025-26 &#8211; Texts and Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t\t<div class=\"jumbotron text-center bg-inverse mb-0 p-0\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tstyle=\"background: rgb(0,0,0);background: linear-gradient(180deg, rgba(0,0,0,1) 0%, rgba(43,43,43,1) 100%);\"\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-4213 img-fluid\" style=\"max-height: 500px;\" src=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/07\/header-2026-texts-tech.jpg\" alt=\"Hand pointing at screen with graduation icon. Created using a combination of AI-generated and manually generated imagery.\" \/><\/p>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"container pb-3\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n<p class=\"text-metallic text-center font-italic font-size-sm mt-3 mb-0\">The Texts &amp; Technology Ph.D. program received an NEH grant to support the thoughtful integration of generative AI into humanities teaching.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"jumbotron jumbotron-fluid bg-inverse-t-2 mb-0 py-4\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"container\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<a class=\"btn btn-outline-i-warning mb-4 mr-3\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/texts-tech\/\"\t\t\t\t\t\ttarget=\"_blank\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\tDepartment website\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t Anastasia Salter, director<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"h4 text-transform-none text-primary-lighter\">Active Students <span class=\"h6 font-weight-normal\">(as of Fall 2025)*<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Graduate students: 62<br \/>\nGraduate certificates: 5<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"h4 text-transform-none text-primary-lighter\">2025-26 Student Credit Hours: <span class=\"text-white\">714<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><small>*All active students with declared CAH programs are included in the enrollment counts.<\/small><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"jumbotron jumbotron-fluid bg-secondary mb-0 pt-5\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"container\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n<p>UCF&#8217;s Texts &amp; Technology Ph.D. program continued to advance interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of humanities and technology, earning national recognition for its research, supporting innovative students and faculty work, and expanding conversations around the role of emerging technologies in education and culture.<\/p>\n<p>In early 2026, the program received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to launch <em>Building a Digital Humanities Generative AI Learning Community,<\/em> a 24-month initiative led by Professor Anastasia Salter and Associate Professor Mel Stanfill. UCF was the only institution in Florida selected for a National Endowments for the Humanities award this cycle and was one of just 84 funded projects nationwide. The initiative will support faculty and graduate students in thoughtfully integrating generative AI into humanities teaching. The project builds on T&amp;T\u2019s long tradition of teaching creative problem-solving through technology, and reflects our conviction that humanities expertise is essential, not incidental, to understanding and shaping AI\u2019s role in culture and education.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"float-right img-fluid mb-2 ml-2 alignright wp-image-5445\" style=\"width: 40vw; max-width: 261px;\" src=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/08\/2026-inset-textstech-fandomisugly.jpg\" alt=\"'Fandom is Ugly' book cover\" \/>Faculty continued to contribute research and creative scholarship in areas including AI-enhanced storytelling, digital archiving, community-engaged public history, and innovative pedagogical technologies. During the year, T&amp;T faculty participated in the Association of American Colleges and Universities\u2019 Institute on AI, Pedagogy and the Curriculum. In addition, Stanfill received the National Communication Association\u2019s Diamond Anniversary Book Award for <em>Fandom Is Ugly: Networked Harassment in Participatory Culture<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Current students represented UCF through presentations and peer-reviewed publications at scholarly venues around the world. Their work explored topics such as representation in games, online communities, algorithmic activism and AI design, second-language acquisition through K-Pop fandom, and writing center pedagogy. Students presented at international venues including the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, the Electronic Literature Organization, and the University of the Arts London, as well as local events such as UCF Libraries\u2019 AI Day, the Sunshine State Teaching and Learning Conference, and UCF\u2019s Student Scholar Symposium. At the symposium, Yingzi Kong received the Judges\u2019 Choice Award for her poster examining the use of generative AI in game-based language learning.<\/p>\n<p>The program also celebrated the accomplishments of eight doctoral graduates since August 2025. Their dissertations reflect the breadth of T&amp;T scholarship, with research spanning game studies, fan studies, social media and geopolitics, activist textile making, and emoji studies.<\/p>\n<p>As an interdisciplinary program bringing together humanities inquiry and emerging technologies, Texts &amp; Technologies prepares graduates to be leaders in academia, technology companies, cultural institutions, government, publishing, and nonprofit organizations. This year\u2019s accomplishments highlight the program\u2019s continued contributions to research, teaching, and public scholarship while examining how technology shapes communication, culture, and learning.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":280,"featured_media":4988,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-fullscreen.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4282","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Spotlight 2025-26 - Texts and Technology Ph.D. at UCF<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"2025-26 year-in-review for the Texts and Technology Ph.D. program at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/texts-tech-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spotlight 2025-26 - Texts and Technology Ph.D. at UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"2025-26 year-in-review for the Texts and Technology Ph.D. program at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/texts-tech-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spotlight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-13T19:37:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/07\/header-2026-texts-tech.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/texts-tech-2026\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/texts-tech-2026\\\/\",\"name\":\"Spotlight 2025-26 - Texts and Technology Ph.D. at UCF\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/texts-tech-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/texts-tech-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/34\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/header-2026-texts-tech.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-17T17:37:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-13T19:37:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"2025-26 year-in-review for the Texts and Technology Ph.D. program at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/texts-tech-2026\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/texts-tech-2026\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/texts-tech-2026\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/34\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/header-2026-texts-tech.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/34\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/header-2026-texts-tech.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Hand pointing at screen with graduation icon. Created using a combination of AI-generated and manually generated imagery.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/texts-tech-2026\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2025-26 &#8211; Texts and Technology\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/\",\"name\":\"Spotlight\",\"description\":\"UCF College of Arts and Humanities Year-In-Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cah.ucf.edu\\\/spotlight\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Spotlight 2025-26 - Texts and Technology Ph.D. at UCF","description":"2025-26 year-in-review for the Texts and Technology Ph.D. program at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/texts-tech-2026\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Spotlight 2025-26 - Texts and Technology Ph.D. at UCF","og_description":"2025-26 year-in-review for the Texts and Technology Ph.D. program at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.","og_url":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/texts-tech-2026\/","og_site_name":"Spotlight","article_modified_time":"2026-08-13T19:37:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/07\/header-2026-texts-tech.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/texts-tech-2026\/","url":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/texts-tech-2026\/","name":"Spotlight 2025-26 - Texts and Technology Ph.D. at UCF","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/texts-tech-2026\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/texts-tech-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/07\/header-2026-texts-tech.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-17T17:37:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-13T19:37:05+00:00","description":"2025-26 year-in-review for the Texts and Technology Ph.D. program at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/texts-tech-2026\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/texts-tech-2026\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/texts-tech-2026\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/07\/header-2026-texts-tech.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/07\/header-2026-texts-tech.jpg","width":1200,"height":500,"caption":"Hand pointing at screen with graduation icon. Created using a combination of AI-generated and manually generated imagery."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/texts-tech-2026\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"2025-26 &#8211; Texts and Technology"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/","name":"Spotlight","description":"UCF College of Arts and Humanities Year-In-Review","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/280"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4282"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5449,"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4282\/revisions\/5449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}