OREM — Utah Valley University is continuous the development of Utah larger schooling establishments leaning into artificial intelligence as an alternative of shying away.
Final week, UVU President Astrid Tuminez introduced the launch of the college’s new Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute, establishing UVU as a dwelling laboratory and mannequin for AI in larger schooling.
The AI institute will likely be led by Rachael Hutchings, an expert in residence within the strategic administration and operations division on the Woodbury College of Enterprise at UVU. Hutchings will likely be tasked with spearheading the institute’s mission to analysis, develop, take a look at and share efficient AI functions with college students, school, workers and the neighborhood.
“The Applied AI Institute is a big step ahead in our imaginative and prescient for schooling at UVU,” Tuminez mentioned in an announcement. “We consider that everybody, no matter their main, ought to have interaction with this transformative expertise and develop into comfy with it. By integrating hands-on studying experiences into our curriculum, we’re empowering our college students to thrive within the quickly evolving world of labor.”
UVU is additional integrating AI into the upper schooling house by prioritizing its use to reinforce pupil internships and job placements. It’s collaborating with native companies and tech corporations to create alternatives for college kids to realize hands-on expertise with AI applied sciences.
The college hopes this may assist college students get a head begin in a workforce that’s quickly altering and integrating synthetic intelligence.
“The institute is not going to solely be a hub for our college students, however will probably be an important neighborhood useful resource,” Tuminez mentioned. “Our aim is to open doorways for all people, companies and organizations to work with us to know what AI brings to the world of studying and work, how you can make investments our assets and how you can deploy and govern this new expertise.”
One other side of the institute is planning to host main specialists from academia and trade to share insights and facilitate occasions — from Okay-12 to larger schooling — targeted on the accountable use of AI. Moreover, the School of Engineering and Know-how will likely be house to a devoted lab for college kids, school and the neighborhood to collaborate on AI mannequin testing and growth.
However that is not all UVU has deliberate for advancing AI in integration, additionally saying a brand new, Master of Applied Artificial Intelligence diploma that will likely be out there to college students starting in fall 2025.
“This program will put together professionals from completely different backgrounds to harness synthetic intelligence to create efficient enterprise options throughout many industries,” mentioned a launch from the college.
Functions for the program will likely be out there on-line on Dec. 1.
Each bulletins come on the heels of a yr of labor and analysis by a college and workers process pressure targeted on integrating generative AI into UVU’s educational and administrative packages.
An actual-world instance of how AI has been useful within the college house could be seen in UVU’s Woodbury College of Enterprise, the place Noah Myers, an assistant professor of accounting, trimmed his spreadsheet automation course from a full semester to simply two weeks. Myers teaches college students to generate code utilizing easy English directions in AI.
“As an accountant, not a pc programmer, I exploit AI to transform my wants into code while not having to know programming,” Myers mentioned in an announcement. “This makes complicated duties easier and extra accessible for college kids.”