Florida State University’s Ukraine Task Force (UTF) was created in 2022 by Provost James Clark to support Ukrainian colleges and universities, explore areas of possible research or grant collaboration, and educate the FSU community about Ukraine. Provost Clark recently reaffirmed FSU’s commitment to the task force by placing it under the purview of the Learning Systems Institute (LSI) at FSU and appointing Dr. Vilma Fuentes as full-time program director.
In 2024, the UTF has hosted 14 Ukrainian educators who came to Tallahassee to build connections with FSU faculty and staff for long-term collaboration in joint research, shared pedagogy, course development, and publication. The Ukrainians also had the opportunity to visit with faculty, staff, and students to discuss the ongoing invasion of Ukraine
While at FSU, the conversations have covered teacher training development, combating human trafficking, mental health care, trauma resiliency, intensive English language development, drone applications, CCTV, body security innovations, cybersecurity, the transition from military service to higher education, the other topics.