A new Bachelor’s program in Artificial Intelligence and Computing that was launched last semester is set to attract new students to Quinnipiac University next fall.
“We know that students are interested in artificial intelligence and so we want to respond to that. Seniors in high school want to major in AI, let’s see if we can respond to that,” Brian O’Neill, associate dean of the School of Computing and Engineering, said.
Quinnipiac is among the first to announce and launch a degree program in artificial intelligence. This comes from both student demand and recent announcements from competitors.
“We also saw some of our competitor schools launching AI majors and that drove us to be like ‘Oh, we need to do that too,’” O’Neill said.
Fairfield University announced a new program on artificial intelligence last September. Others are close behind and many nearby schools currently offer AI minors.
AI is a rapidly growing phenomenon, leading some parents and students to wonder how artificial intelligence will impact students’ career paths. This new bachelor’s program aims to address fears that AI is taking some jobs off the market.
“Our hope is that by having an AI degree, we are trying to sell people that ‘no, you can be an AI major’ and feel a little more secure,” O’Neill said.
Enrollment in existing AI courses at Quinnipiac has increased dramatically over the last year, indicating growing student interest and leading faculty to believe the new bachelor’s program will be a major success for the university.
“This was a fast build, in terms of the actual major. There was interest from upper administration, from faculty here in computing and engineering, this fall,” O’Neill said.
The new bachelor’s program was built in August and September and didn’t officially launch until after Quinnipiac began accepting applications for the fall 2026 academic year.
“This was a project that the whole computing department worked on. There were a lot of conversations about it, a lot of kicking around,” O’Neill said.
The program will expand upon the courses offered in the existing A.I. minor.
“We are taking a fair bit of what is in the AI minor and some of what is in the existing computer science programs and merging a little bit,” O’Neill said.
In addition, new courses on AI have been created based on professors’ knowledge and existing professional skills.
“It’s initially very similar to the computer science and software engineering programs that already exist on campus,” O’Neill said.
The current curriculum is designed to help students learn the basics of both programs, allowing students to make informed decisions about their junior year. The new AI and Computing program will function the same way.
“We want the AI and computing major to share the same freshmen core and beginning of sophomore core, so that a student can now flip between any of those three programs,” O’Neill said.
In their junior and senior year, students in the AI program will dive deeper into code and learn what it takes to make and run artificial intelligence.
“It’s setting students up not just to be users and consumers but developers and builders,” O’Neill said.
He says the program will be under constant review to keep up with the rapidly changing technology and student demands.
“We know that the program as approved and as published in next year’s catalog will probably not be the same program in the catalog five years from now. We will need to make changes responding to the student body, responding to changes in technology,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill is excited to see students take advantage of the unique program next fall and to see it continue to grow as AI technology continues to expand and evolve.
