College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management | August 2026

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the August 2026 edition of our AI and Innovation Newsletter! This edition includes updates in AI, highlights faculty and staff AI use cases, and shares useful resources and information to help integrate AI into your work.

SAVE THE DATE – SPUR SUMMIT

Join industry leaders, faculty, students, and innovation partners on Nov. 11, 2026, for Spur Summit, HRSM's premier innovation conference. As the flagship event of Innovation Week, Spur Summit will spark new ideas, strengthen industry partnerships, and showcase the future of hospitality, retail, and tourism.

QUICK UPDATES

Dean’s Innovation Fund — Fall 2026
Applications open through Sept. 30

AI Test Drive Grant Application

Amount: up to $500
Deadline: Sept. 15

Purpose

New AI products present exciting opportunities to improve how we work and learn. For HRSM to keep abreast of these new products, the AI test drive grant is now offered to faculty and staff. The grant’s purpose is to encourage faculty and staff to learn about cutting edge tools that could be later adopted by HRSM. AI products currently available to the university are not considered new AI products. For example, a ChatGPT grant request would not be eligible. Also, the product needs to be new to the applicant and not previously awarded as a test drive grant. A limited number of competitive grant opportunities will be awarded to HRSM faculty and staff who complete an application and fulfill the requirements. Previous grant recipients are not eligible for this award.

How the Grant Works

The employee completes an application that includes a description of the product and how the product will support the grant’s purpose.

Because these new products have not received ITS approval, grant awardees must use their personal computers. The awardee must subscribe to at least three months of use of the AI product and exercise good faith in learning about how best to use the product for work-related tasks.

On Nov. 10, 2026, the awardee must be available to make a short presentation to HRSM to demonstrate how the product works. A short, written description also should be sent to the AI-Future’s committee that includes strengths, weaknesses, and recommendations.

After all the grant requirements are completed, the applicant will be awarded the grant.

To apply for the AI test drive grant, please complete the following form: HRSM Test Drive.

AI FACULTY DIRECTOR NOTES

Teaching and Learning with AI

Businesses and higher education have been scrambling to adopt AI. We have been encouraging AI exploration to find more efficient ways to use resources. While the results have been mixed, the service industry has some success stories. For example, Shelly Xu Design uses AI to reengineer clothing patterns to reduce the 10-15% of fabric waste lost in the cutting process. Using AI-powered food waste tracking, leading hospitality providers are cutting food waste by $100M annually. AI also offers insights to better understand customer behavior. During The Masters, digital experiences are created for golf fans worldwide. “Hole Insight” provides historical and current performance date for each hole. These examples do not do justice to the ingenuity of the industries represented in HRSM, but they demonstrate the potential benefits of exploring how to use this evolving technology to find better ways to serve customers.

Exploration is an expensive proposition too. Christopher Columbus’s 1492 trip to the West Indies was estimated to cost about $1M current U.S. dollars. More recently, NASA’s budget was about $25 billion in 2024, but the space agency received nearly three times that amount in the mid-1960s (adjusted for inflation). Recent news stories report similar issues with AI implementation and the cost of AI tokens. One unnamed company used $500 million in Claude tokens over one month. Businesses have learned that limits need to be placed on token use. My point is that “bolding going where no one has gone before” is expensive, and we are heading the same direction as NASA. Our exploration continues, but we will now operate with usage caps. When using the University’s Open.AI, please be mindful of how you use the resource.

BoodleBox users still have unlimited use. Table 1 shows some evidence of how HRSM’s learning community uses BoodleBox. HRSM’s all-time use data shows evidence of strong ongoing use by faculty and staff. The real growth opportunity for us is integrating BoodleBox into collaborative learning with students.

Table 1 HRSM All-time BoodleBox usage as of May 2026

The strong interest of faculty and staff in BoodleBox training is the next step. Currently, 45 HRSM faculty and staff are completing a six-week BoodleBox master class. The training will include creating bot design, AI-integrated assignment design, collaborative learning, and assessment. Instructors completing the certification are strongly encouraged to develop an AI assignment into their courses next term. Please contact me about BoodleBox licenses for your students.

-Drew Martin, Ph.D.

RECENT AI TRAININGS

Erica Lake, Ph.D.

In June, HRSM’s Learning Experience Designer, Tammy Macek and Vice Dean Erica Lake attended the UCF Teaching and Learning with AI Conference in Orlando. Here are a few takeaways from the conference.

Top Three Takeaways from the UCF Teaching & Learning with AI Conference

1. Move Beyond AI Detection to AI-Enabled Learning

A consistent message throughout the conference was that higher education must shift from asking “How do we prevent students from using AI?” to “How do we help students use AI responsibly and effectively?” Presenters emphasized that AI is already embedded in the workplace, and graduates will be expected to know how to leverage it ethically and strategically. Rather than designing “AI-proof” assignments, faculty can create learning experiences that require students to analyze, critique, validate, and improve AI-generated content. The focus should remain on developing critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving skills—capabilities that become more valuable as AI tools become more powerful.

2. AI Can Enhance Student Learning Through Personalized Support

Several sessions showcased the growing use of AI-powered tutors, course companions, and learning bots that provide students with support beyond the classroom. Rather than supplying answers, these tools can guide students through concepts, ask probing questions, explain course materials, and direct learners to resources when faculty are unavailable. This learner-centered approach allows students to access just-in-time assistance while helping faculty scale support and improve engagement. The takeaway was clear: AI is most effective when it augments teaching and strengthens learning rather than replacing human interaction.

3. Faculty Development Will Determine Institutional Success

Leading institutions are investing heavily in faculty AI fluency through training programs, learning communities, and practical workshops focused on classroom applications. One of the strongest messages from the conference was that successful AI integration depends less on technology and more on helping faculty build confidence and competence.

As a college, we have an opportunity to increase the use of tools already available to us. By using Boodlebox, Chat GPT, and CoPilot, we can continue to lead by sharing examples of how our faculty and staff are using AI. We can experiment with new approaches and learn from one another. Building a culture of exploration and collaboration around AI may be one of the most important investments we make in the coming year!

Session Highlight: Wait CoPilot Can Do That? Microsoft CoPilot has new features that are available to everyone who has M365. Check out the new features Create, Teach, Pages, and Library.  You can create images and banners (1200 x400 in Blackboard), convert a PowerPoint into a video, edit the script and more.  These new features can help you prepare for your classes and events.

Tammy Macek

Cool AI Tools, ideas and applications from the UCF Teaching & Learning with AI Conference

Online Multimedia Tools

Why It Matters for HRSM

AI is rapidly reshaping the future of work. The conference reinforced that our role is not only to prepare students to use AI tools, but also to develop the human skills of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, ethical decision-making, and adaptability.  These skills will enable them to thrive in an AI-enabled workforce. By embracing thoughtful AI integration today, HRSM can position itself as a leader in innovative teaching and student preparation.

AI IN ACTION

Martiez Moore

Last year, during one of our busiest advising seasons, I found myself wondering if there was a better way to handle some of the repetitive work that happens after meeting with students. I wanted to spend less time rewriting notes and more time thinking about the student sitting across from me. That question led me to build a custom GPT that could help draft advising summaries. It wasn't making decisions for me. It was giving me a consistent, reliable summary that saved my time, helped me be more focused in session, and have more meaningful conversations with students.  

I don't use that original GPT much anymore. New tools have made many of those same capabilities easier to access within the platforms we already use. But I don't see that first project as something I outgrew. It changed how I think about my work.

Now, when I encounter a repetitive task or a cumbersome process, I find myself asking different questions. Is there a better way to do this? What requires my judgment, and what simply requires my time? How can technology support the work without replacing the human relationships at the center of it?

Those questions have led me to experiment with AI in other ways, from drafting communications and organizing information to examining workflows and looking for opportunities to improve processes. Some experiments have been genuinely helpful. Others have taught me what doesn't work. Both have been worthwhile.

Receiving the 2025 USC Institutional Academic Advising Award for Outstanding Advising Initiative was meaningful because it affirmed something I've come to believe through practice: innovation doesn't always begin with having the perfect solution. Sometimes it begins with noticing a problem, asking a better question, and being willing to experiment.

I'm still learning, and I suspect I always will be. That's what makes this work exciting. Every new tool is another opportunity to reflect on how we can spend less time on routine tasks and more time supporting the people we serve.

George Hendry, Ed.D.

George Hendry just completed a specialized certificate from the American Culinary Federation: Ai for the Modern Chef. This course introduced AI "Augmented Intelligence" into the kitchen for professional chefs to use in menu planning, production, scheduling, etc. The focus was not to replace anyone, but to make the chef's time more efficient. He plans on using this knowledge at the McCutchen House with the students in the HRSM 370 course.

BOODLEBOX MASTER CLASS

Many HRSM faculty and staff are taking advantage of the 6-week Boodlebox Master Class that is being taught this summer. HRSM is fortunate to have access to this platform, and many schools at the UCF Teaching and Learning with AI Conference are using this platform with students and in the classroom.

If you participated in the Boodlebox Masterclass, we know you may be interested in getting your students connected to Boodlebox. To help get students started, Drew Martin has created a short video that explains how to register for a free BoodleBox account and join Team HRSM for full access.

Check out a couple of sample bots created by HRSM faculty and staff from the Boodlebox Master Class.

Susmit Gulavani, Ph.D.

I developed an AI bot in BoodleBox that simulates a season ticket holder who has decided not to renew their membership with a sport organization. The bot is designed as a training and simulation tool for students who take on the role of a ticket sales manager. Their task is to engage the bot in a realistic conversation, uncover the underlying reasons for non-renewal, and strategically deploy retention incentives (e.g., discounts, upgraded seating, exclusive experiences, flexible payment plans, etc.) to win back the customer. The bot responds dynamically to the student's approach, rewarding empathetic, well-tailored pitches and pushing back on generic or transactional ones.

Season ticket holders are the lifeblood of most professional and collegiate sport organizations. Yet retention marketing budgets are finite, and targeting every non-renewing customer with incentives is wasteful. The strategic challenge is identifying and targeting the persuadable churners (i.e., identifying the ones who would stay with persuasion). Sport management students often learn CRM and sport marketing concepts abstractly. A conversational bot creates an experiential learning environment where they can practice the soft skills like active listening, objection handling, value framing that separate effective retention managers from average ones. Hence, I leverage BoodleBox to build sophisticated simulations providing hands-on applied learning.

I anticipate this bot will generate meaningful learning outcomes for students preparing to enter the sport industry. Students will develop critical diagnostic listening skills, learning to uncover why a season ticket holder is churning before rushing to pitch an incentive, which is often the difference between a successful save and a wasted retention dollar.

Roxanne Price

I’ve created two bots that I affectionately named GlossBot and Mark E. Ting. GlossBot is an interactive tutor that will help my HTMT Conference and Meeting Planning students learn and master event industry terminology through practice and quizzes. It’s powered by Claude 4.6 Sonnet and pulls its knowledge from the Events Industry Council’s Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) glossary — a trusted professional association for event professionals.

I had so much fun with GlossBot that I also developed a marketing assistant bot. Its role is to guide students through a specific assignment as they develop multiple strategic marketing plan options, analyze and critique the alternatives, select the most effective strategy, and expand it into a comprehensive marketing plan for their event, a community music festival.

As I began learning how bots function and followed the instructor’s step-by-step process, I could feel my perspective begin to shift. I went from feeling really uncomfortable in the AI technology space to gaining more insight and confidence in using it as a tool. There are countless opportunities to enhance my course — the possibilities with AI sparked my creativity, but it’s still a little overwhelming!

Spending time with GlossBot will definitely help students build their event management vocabulary and increase confidence in understanding and using the terminology — which can have a direct impact on their future careers if they choose to pursue event management. I also hope the bots will encourage critical thinking and make their overall experience in the course more meaningful, rewarding and fun.

Participating in the BoodleBox MasterClass is changing the way I think about AI and its potential. I’m seeing first-hand how AI can serve as a collaborative tool, and it's giving me more confidence to experiment and explore my new skills. I’m so appreciative of the time and opportunity to learn!

AI RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT

AI Basics for Staff Series

Part 1: AI Foundations

This session introduced core AI terminology, prompt writing, and current capabilities and limitations. The AI Educator team also addressed moral and ethical implications of AI use for the USC and South Carolina communities.

Part 2: “AI Won’t Take My Job”

This session explored common concerns about AI and employment, with a focus on how AI is shaping the workplace.

Part 3: AI in Action

The final session featured demonstrations and real-world examples showing how staff could integrate AI into their workflows.This session explored common concerns about AI and employment, with a focus on how AI is shaping the workplace.

AI Work Lab & Office Hours

UPCOMING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

AI Cafes

Curious how others are using AI to streamline their work? Join us for a relaxed, drop-in style workshop where faculty and staff come together to share tips, tricks, and real-world examples of how AI enhances their roles. Below are the dates for upcoming AI Cafes:

Thank you for reading this month's AI and Innovation Newsletter. Stay tuned for more AI and Innovation updates by visiting the Office of Innovation webpage.