Fireside chat, Morgridge Hall tour provide context for DEM’s work preparing for new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence

In both its physical environment and its academic concentrations, the forthcoming College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence (CAI) strives to be a place where disciplines converge and ideas are amplified. That’s one of the key takeaways from DEM’s February 3 fireside chat with Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau, the director of the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences (CDIS). CDIS will leave the College of Letters and Science on July 1 and become UW–Madison’s first new standalone college in more than four decades. During the fireside chat, Arpaci-Dusseau outlined the journey toward becoming a standalone college – including how the name CAI (pronounced “see-A-I”) was chosen – and answered questions about the impacts to DEM – from how to talk about CAI with prospective students to the backend changes the RO will support in SIS and beyond. While some of those questions don’t have answers yet, DEM teams are proactively planning to minimize the potential impacts to our audiences. Within the RO, the ADTS and Academic Services units have begun brainstorming what high-level changes will need to be made in SIS to reflect CDIS’ evolution into CAI. In late February, members of these teams convened to document some of the initial implementation needs and officially created this new College in SIS. Downstream systems like DARS and Course Search & Enroll app and processes like program/plan declaration and reporting will also be impacted in the future, so there will need to be work done to ensure the continued proper flow of data. Because creating a new college is a significant undertaking, there will be work that extends into the upcoming academic year, but the next chapter in computing education on campus is just a few short months away. More Photos