Q&A: Faculty and Staff Use Technology to Work Smarter
At Michigan Ross, faculty and staff are finding creative ways to use technology in their roles. Whether they’re teaching, writing, or supporting the Ross community, we asked faculty and staff to share how technology is helping them save time and work smarter.
Jun Li, professor, Technology and Operations
How are you using technology to work smarter and be more innovative in your role?
I used U-M’s Maizey to create an artificial intelligence tutor for the Operations Management 313 class. The Maizey acts as a teaching assistant, helping my students learn the content at their own pace, answer questions about subject matter, and get help preparing for quizzes and exams.
What new tool have you started using recently, and how has it helped you with your day-to-day work?
Recently, I tried out Google’s Agentspace to make interactive AI personas for students. With Agentspace, I was able to set up different “case agents”— basically, characters who give students feedback as they work through a real-life scenario or problem, using what they’ve learned to analyze and solve it. The case agent helps guide them in asking the right questions.
Using this technology has given me a way to get more feedback than I had before. It’s helped me spot what’s getting in the way of student learning and figure out which topics need clearer explanations or more examples. Because of this, I can adjust what we do in class to better tackle these problem areas and help students learn more effectively.\
Sidney Richardson, copywriter, Office of Marketing and Communications
How are you using technology to work smarter and be more innovative in your role?
I love using technology to make tedious tasks quick and easy, so I can focus on the work I enjoy and need to prioritize the most. I use Zoom and Adobe Premiere to quickly create transcripts of my interviews to use when writing articles, Adobe Illustrator and Canva for quick graphics, and U-M GPT to locate or summarize information in lengthy documents.
What new tool have you started using recently, and how has it helped you with your day-to-day work?
I have recently started using the university’s Maizey AI tool to assist with copy editing, which has been very useful! U-M ITS helped my team set up our own Maizey, and was extremely helpful in giving tips on making sure the AI served the purpose we wanted it to. This was important to us as writers because we didn’t want a tool to write for us, just one that would help us make editing faster and more efficient, as well as flag style and grammatical errors. For example, we ‘trained’ our Maizey on our internal style guide document so it will find mistakes in my writing that I missed while proofreading.
Bill Hegyi, training and communications coordinator, Ross IT
How are you using technology to work smarter and be more innovative in your role?
As the training and communications coordinator at Ross IT, I facilitate various workshops to help faculty and staff understand how to use different AI tools. Specifically, I’ve used U-M’s AI tools — like U-M GPT and U-M Maizey — to create and improve our discussion materials and presentations. I also use these tools to help with my own writing and editing.
What new tool have you started using recently, and how has it helped you with your day-to-day work?
I’ve expanded my use of U-M GPT over the past few months. I’ve started keeping a browser tab open to https://umgpt.umich.edu/ and utilizing it for quick edits with simple prompts like, “How do I rewrite the following text into a more empathetic tone?” U-M GPT has also been useful in helping me know what AI tool to use for different types of tasks. Using a prompt like this can quickly point me in the right direction: “I see many types of AI tools available. What tools work best with what kind of problems?”
Jason Davidson, general manager, Ross Hospitality/Aramark
How are you using technology to work smarter and be more innovative in your role?
We use mobile order technology for the Starbucks kiosk and Seigle Cafe. We launched the Starbucks system in August 2024 and the Seigle Cafe platform in August 2025. Since students often have really busy schedules and not much time to grab a meal or snack, we thought this would make things easier for them. The Starbucks mobile ordering has been really popular, and we’re working to let more people know about the Seigle Cafe option. Although the community has started using it a bit more slowly, those who’ve tried it with the Bite app say it’s easy and convenient.
What new tool have you started using recently, and how has it helped you with your day-to-day work?
The mobile ordering platforms for Starbucks and Seigle Cafe have made our service more efficient, reducing customer wait times. We also now have valuable data that can help us make better business decisions, such as deciding the best hours to be open, what items to offer, how to schedule staff, and which local restaurant partnerships will benefit the Ross community the most.
