Three members of SEAS receive Academic Integrity Awards

Oliver Kennedy, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering; David Salac, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; and Kaeleigh Peri, SEAS senior graduate advisor for special programs, received 2022-23 Faculty-Staff Distinction in Academic Integrity Awards at a ceremony held Monday, May 1 in Capen Hall’s Buffalo Room.

Kennedy wants every graduate to look at the words “University at Buffalo” on their resume with pride. 

“That means doing everything in our power to ensure that students who receive diplomas from here have earned it the right way,” he says.

Kennedy has committed himself to upholding UB’s academic reputation, serving on the Department of Computer Science and Engineering’s Promoting Academic Integrity Committee and co-authoring its departmental values statement. 

As the department’s co-director of graduate studies, he has also helped his fellow faculty members more consistently enforce academic honesty. He’s requested data from OAI to show individual instructors where inconsistencies exist.

“OAI does incredible work, and it means a lot to me that they feel that I am deserving of this recognition,” Kennedy says.

An OAI graduate assistant has been asked by more than one student if Salac is in charge of academic integrity at UB.

Salac, who is also director of graduate studies for the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, makes sure to pursue academic integrity violations on everything from coding assignments to exams.

During the pandemic, he put extensive effort into assuring that students were completing their work honestly and not using study help app Chegg to get answers to homework problems and exam questions. This required many time-consuming investigations through Chegg and a subsequent realigning of course credit when Chegg stopped participating in investigations. 

These efforts are appreciated by students. A student who nominated Salac for the award wrote that he “positively affects the morale of the many students who complete their work honestly.”

Salac says academic integrity is critical to the credibility of both UB and its graduates.

“Academic integrity promotes a fair learning environment, with all students being evaluated on their own merits and performance,” he says. “Adherence to academic integrity also prepares students to become ethical and responsible professionals, who are trusted and respected in their fields.”

Peri says it's the faculty who carry the brunt of the work when it comes to maintaining academic integrity. 

“I’m just here to support them,” she says.

Yet when an adjunct instructor had an alleged case of dishonesty last year, he may not have pursued it without Peri’s support, he wrote in his nomination. She helped him email students, file reports, meet required deadlines and kept him motivated to move forward with the process. 

Peri, who advises nearly 1,000 students within SEAS, emphasizes academic integrity requirements at both orientation and mid-semester meetings. She has created an academic honesty contract that all incoming students sign and coordinates the academic integrity portion of course syllabi. 

Peri’s nominators say she’s aware of the root causes of violations, such as under-preparedness. She’s currently helping faculty develop a bootcamp for incoming students to reduce violations. 

Nominators also say Peri is sensitive to cultural differences around academic integrity and tries to educate international students about academic expectations in the United States.

“I try to be at the forefront of it and before students even arrive at UB instill what academic integrity is and what to do—and not do—in the classroom,” Peri says. “Students are only cheating themselves when they earn violations. When they go into the workforce, I want them to be the best representation of themselves—and UB.”

Created in 2019, OAI was the result of a five-year effort to address concerns on campus about the long and laborious adjudication process outlined in previous policies, as well as new challenges posed by ever-involving technologies.

Those challenges have only increased since then amid remote work and new artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, making the work of OAI all the more crucial. 

Each spring semester, in conjunction with National Honesty Day on April 30, OAI recognizes individuals or groups who have gone above and beyond their duty to promote and enhance a culture of integrity at UB.

This was the second year that OAI has handed out awards, and the second time that SEAS has been well-represented in the faculty-staff category. Ethan Blanton, assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and James Jensen, chair of the Department of Engineering Education and professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, both received an inaugural Faculty-Staff Distinction in Academic Integrity Award last year.