The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced Monday that computer science professor Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau will become the first dean of the College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence (CAI), effective July 1.
Arpaci-Dusseau currently leads the School of Computer, Data and Information Sciences (CDIS), whose programs and majors overlap heavily with those moving to CAI in 2027-28. He also serves as Special Advisor to the Provost on Computing and co-leads a research group with his wife, fellow computer science professor Andrea Arpaci-Dusseau.
While Arpaci-Dusseau will lead the college’s early direction and establish partnerships, a national dean search with community input will begin in 2028 for the college’s “next phase of growth,” according to a message sent from chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and provost John Zumbrunnen to university students and employees.
Arpaci-Dusseau will serve as founding dean through the culmination of the national search, which is open to all candidates, university spokesperson Victoria Comella told The Daily Cardinal in an email statement.
Arpaci-Dusseau received his master’s and PhD degrees in computer science from the University of California-Berkeley, and has been a professor at UW-Madison since 2000.
The College of Computing and AI, which will open July 1 in Morgridge Hall, was approved by the Universities of Wisconsin System Board of Regents last December and became the first academic division created at UW-Madison since 1983. The college will house majors in the departments of Computer Sciences, Statistics and the Information School. It also plans to hire 50 new faculty members under the RISE-AI hiring initiative and create new AI-related certificates, majors, courses and programs.
Arpaci-Dusseau has “led the effort” to create CAI since 2024, according to Monday’s press release.
“Universities have long helped develop technologies, and that work must continue,” he said. “But we also have a responsibility to ask hard questions about their impacts, guide innovation thoughtfully and prepare students to thrive in a changing world.”
A UW-Madison release emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of CAI, connecting technical and business experts with philosophers and ethicists. Arpaci-Dusseau said the university has a responsibility to “help shape a future where technology, including AI, benefits all people, not just a few.”
The new college will comprise some of UW-Madison’s most popular and highest-earning majors. In fall 2025, over 3,000 students at the university were enrolled in a computer science major, 1,700 in data science and 500 in information sciences. UW-Madison computer and information sciences majors earn a median of $115,954 four years after graduation, according to a Journal Sentinel analysis — the fourth highest-earning bachelor's program at any Wisconsin institution.
Private donors have also promised $100 million to CAI, making up the gap between the $36 million in general program operations funding transferred to CAI and the overall budget, anticipated at $85 million. UW-Madison also committed $50 million annually to CAI.
The largest private donors included Databricks and Perplexity AI founder Andy Konwinski, Cisco CEO John Morgridge and special education teacher Tasha Morgridge, business leaders Signe Ostby and Scott Cook, Doximity CEO Jeff Tangney and healthcare software company Epic.
“[Arpaci-Dusseau] has been an integral part of the leadership team that has helped make CDIS strong since its inception in 2019, and I have every confidence he will bring vision and strong leadership as the founding dean of the new college,” Zumbrunnen said.
