The new college will build upon the university’s strengths in computer, data, library and information sciences and statistics.
A proposal from the University of Wisconsin–Madison to reorganize the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences (CDIS) into a standalone college was approved today by the UW Board of Regents at its December meeting at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater.
This vote marks a critical step toward the creation of a College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence (CAI), building on decades of investment in scholarship, research and teaching and the university’s strengths in computer, data, library and information sciences and statistics. The proposal grew out of the continuing success of CDIS, which was created within the College of Letters & Science (L&S) in 2019.
With the authority granted today by the Regents to UW–Madison to form a new college, which would be the first at the university in many decades, the next several months will involve engaging university governance and a broad cross-campus consultation process to shape and hone further aspects of its creation.
An official announcement of the new college is anticipated to come later this spring and the operating start of the new college is expected to be July 1, 2026.
“We greatly appreciate the Regents’ support for this important vision for UW–Madison and we are excited by this important step toward making this new college a reality. This will be about more than simply building a new academic unit,” says Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin. “We will be shaping a future where UW–Madison leads in innovation while advancing knowledge for the common good. We want to prepare UW–Madison students for a world where computing and technology intersect with every profession and discipline, from patient care to teaching, biomedical research to the humanities.”
The reorganization would involve CDIS’s three units: Computer Sciences, the Information School and Statistics.
“Our expectation is that this college will further strengthen our excellence in these critical disciplines, and that it will also deeply engage both internally and across campus with AI as a transformative and disruptive force, considering it as a technological tool with vast problem-solving potential while also confronting its significant moral and ethical implications,” Chancellor Mnookin adds.
Read the full story here: https://news.wisc.edu/uw-board-of-regents-approves-uw-madison-proposal-to-create-college-of-computing-and-artificial-intelligence/