The University of Wisconsin-Madison wants to separate the school’s largest and fastest growing majors into a new college focused on Artificial Intelligence and computing.
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents will vote Thursday on the creation of a new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence at UW-Madison, meeting materials show.
If approved, the Departments of Computer Science, Statistics and the Information School will all be reorganized from the College of Letters and Science to this new college. In the six years since 2019, enrollment in Computer, Data and Information Sciences (CDIS) degree programs has doubled, according to the meeting materials. A working group of experts first suggested the change in 2023.
“This is a reorganization of existing units that will raise the stature of existing cutting-edge research and education in computer, data and information sciences and help the university continue to attract the top faculty and students in these disciplines,” Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and Interim Provost John Zumbrunnen wrote in an Oct. 21 letter to UW System Senior Vice President for Academic & Student Affairs Johannes Britz.
Mumblings of this move had been prevalent on campus all semester. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony for CDIS’ new headquarters, Morgridge Hall, Mnookin told The Daily Cardinal it was a “serious possibility” that the university would divorce CDIS from L&S.
Zumbrunnen also discussed this change at an October Faculty Senate meeting, though Senators raised concerns about staffing and resources, especially amid budget pressures.
Like Morgridge Hall — the largest privately funded building at the university — UW-Madison plans to seek private donations to fund the school. $36 million in general program operations funding would move from L&S to this new college, but its overall budget is anticipated to be around $85 million, leaving the remaining almost $50 million uncertain.
Meeting materials indicate that “preliminary commitments suggest a strong likelihood of significant philanthropic support from private donations” after establishing the new college.
If confirmed, this move would be effective July 1, 2026.
Annika Bereny is the campus news editor for The Daily Cardinal. She previously served as the special pages editor. As a staff writer, she's written in-depth on campus news specializing in protest policy, free speech and historical analysis. She has also written for state and city news. She is a History and Journalism major. Follow her on Twitter at @annikabereny.
