New artificial intelligence minor launches this fall

This summer, Virginia Tech is launching a new undergraduate minor in artificial intelligence (AI) open to students in any major. It’s designed to help them build AI skills and literacy they can apply to any field of study and to their careers after graduation.

Applications to join the minor program will open in August for all undergraduates. Incoming students can add some of the minor’s classes to their schedules starting this month.

"Regardless of major, today's students are entering a workforce where AI will be part of nearly every profession,” said Christine Julien, head of the Department of Computer Science. “Our goal is to ensure Virginia Tech graduates understand how these technologies work, how to evaluate them critically, and how to apply them responsibly in their own fields."

To that end, Julien led a group of collaborators across the university to intentionally build a minor program that serves every student.

“We made a deliberate choice: Instead of building something for computer science students and opening it to others, we built it from the start for the whole university,” Julien said.

“That meant sitting down with colleagues in the arts, the social sciences, philosophy, public policy — and letting their students' needs help shape the structure,” she said. “The result is a minor where an animal science student, a music student, and a computer science student can each find a meaningful path into AI that connects directly to their field.”

One of the collaborators was Jeffrey Loeffert, director of the School of Performing Arts and a working musician.

"When we combine expertise from different disciplines, we create opportunities for students to explore new ideas and develop skills that wouldn't emerge within a single field alone. That's what makes this minor so exciting,” Loeffert said.

Today, college graduates entering the labor force are facing a period of massive transition, and it's affecting nearly every economic sector. Educators across campus are looking for ways to prepare students for short- and long-term career opportunities.

“I've heard my administrative colleagues in the arts field frame it this way: Students need to worry less about losing their jobs to AI and worry more about losing their jobs to people who know how to use AI," Loeffert said. “This aligns with what I hear frequently from our industry partners. They hire prospective employees who have a high degree of AI literacy and an ability to adapt as the tools and technologies change.”

Technical understanding, ethics, and application

The 18-credit-hour minor offers course options that span a wide range of disciplines.

All students complete a technical foundation that includes programming, computational problem solving, and artificial intelligence concepts in practice. The required ethics component draws on courses from computer science, philosophy, and business. The interdisciplinary application modules offer purposefully curated pathways in the arts, social sciences, and humanities.

Some selected class options include:

A theatre major might explore artificial intelligence in creative practice, while a public policy student could study how AI influences governance, planning, and decision-making. The minor's interdisciplinary structure allows students to connect artificial intelligence concepts directly to their academic interests and career goals.

Julien said the minor's course offerings will continue to expand. Other classes will be added as they are approved. One class already in review is AI in Theatre: Applications and Impacts.

Incoming students interested in pursuing the minor can review course requirements and begin enrolling in eligible courses that do not require prerequisites. All students may declare the minor through the College of Engineering beginning Aug. 3.