Waukesha County Technical College received approval this week to begin offering an associate degree program focused on artificial intelligence. In a Thursday announcement, WCTC said it is the first technical college in Wisconsin to offer such a program.
The Artificial Intelligence Data Specialist Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree program consists of 60 credits and will officially launch next fall.
“We are pushing the envelope on artificial intelligence and we intend to lead indefinitely,” said Rich Barnhouse, president of WCTC. “With the addition of the new two-year AI degree — on top of the three new AI certificates announced earlier this year — WCTC is setting the pace for AI learning for business and industry in southeastern Wisconsin.”
Over the past two years, WCTC has completed research related to developing an AI degree program. This included several information gathering sessions made up of employees from health care, manufacturing, information technology, insurance and other industries.
The college also introduced three new certificates this year designed to give workers the skills for AI and data-related jobs.
The “Foundations of AI” course introduces students to AI and focuses on data skills to support artificial intelligence. “AI Technician” digs deeper into the field of AI and dives into predictive analytics, image recognition and natural language processing. “Foundations of Data Analytics” serves as an introduction to the field of data analytics. These three certificates ladder into the AI Data Specialist degree program.
WCTC is also developing an AI innovation and incubator center that will convene entrepreneurs and AI professionals to help create new businesses focused on applied AI.
“Our goal is not just to provide a space for new businesses to bring their plans to life, but to also provide an environment of collaboration and ingenuity,” said Barnhouse. “The center will be a place where current business and industry partners can learn more about how to modernize their operations by leveraging AI and the vast amount of resources WCTC has available to them.”
