Beginning this fall, Carroll University will offer a new artificial intelligence major for its students, the university announced on Tuesday.
Amid a time of growing demand for AI skills in the workforce, Carroll University’s upcoming AI major will provide students with courses covering machine learning algorithms, natural language understanding, speech synthesis, image recognition, logical reasoning, data analysis and robotics, according to the university’s news release.
While higher education institutions have increasingly been working to provide AI education opportunities, majors focused solely on AI are rare.
“We are extremely excited to offer this new undergraduate major in AI, building on the success of our recent offering of an AI minor,” said Margaret Polk, an associate professor of computer science at Carroll University. “From all accounts, while there are AI courses and concentrations within majors found at other universities, our new major is one of only two strictly focused and so-named ‘Major in Artificial Intelligence’ offerings at the university undergraduate level in our geographic area.”
The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire announced earlier this month that it would begin offering a major in artificial intelligence beginning in fall 2025.
Carroll University, located in Waukesha, joins a growing list of Milwaukee area higher education institutions that are expanding AI education opportunities. Last fall, Waukesha County Technical College began offering a two-year AI degree, becoming the first technical college in the state to offer this type of program.
Milwaukee School of Engineering also recently began offering three AI certificates in fall 2024. MSOE also incorporates AI education in its computer science and machine learning degree programs.
“There are undergraduate computer science majors and engineering majors degrees that have an AI concentration, but the actual named (AI) major is the rarity,” Polk said.
