A Bachelor of Science and minor in artificial intelligence at the University of Idaho were approved at the Faculty Senate meeting on Feb. 3, 2026. The B.S. curriculum is part of the College of Engineering computer science department and is a four-year 120 credit degree program and would begin in the 2026-227 academic year.
One of the driving factors, according to previous chair of the UI CS department, Terence Soule, is competition among other Idaho colleges. Boise State University began their B.S. in AI in the fall of 2025, and Idaho State University will begin their program at the same time as UI in fall 2026. Current CS department chair Steve Wang said that more than 30 institutions already have a B.S. in AI degree program.
According to Wang, shifting attitudes and oversaturation in the CS degree market have led to a decrease in enrollment in general CS programs nationwide. However, specialized programs such as UI’s cybersecurity degree, which began in 2020, continues to grow.
“If we want to be competitive, I think we need degrees in this area,” Soule said at the senate meeting.
The department has been developing the degree program for over a year, according to Soule, but was postponed for input from Wang, who began as chair in fall 2025. The curriculum builds on the CS department’s existing programs and courses, with a focus on how to develop and use AI technologies. Soule stated it was not a degree in AI application, but such program could be developed in the future without significant overlap.
In addition to the core degree, students will pick an area of emphasis which include: AI infrastructure & operations, secure AI, AI cyber, robotics AI, general AI studies and AI in data science. The course work for the various emphases can increase the total number of credits required to 132.
Soule stated that dual credit programs and placement tests allow students to skip four credits of precalculus in MATH 1143 and MATH 1144, reducing the number of required credits back towards 120.
The minor in AI will focus more on theory and fundamentals rather than programming and math and would only require 19 credits.
Undergraduate and graduate certificates in AI and machine learning are already offered by the CS department. Soule said that these programs already include many of the upper division courses that will be part of the degree program. Some prerequisite requirements were also removed from existing classes to better streamline the curriculum. Soule stated that because of this, the need to increase the number of faculty is small, with two currently open searches.
One of the new curriculum items, AIML 1101, a freshman level class Soule called a non-technical introduction to AI, is in discussion to become a general education requirement on AI ethics, system fundamentals and responsible use.
Faculty Senate members were in support of a general education AI class and suggested changing the course name to a more understandable title, such as ethical use of AI technologies. The senate voted 20 in favor, two against for the B.S. in AI and 22 in favor, two against for the minor in AI.
Soule said that both degree programs were designed to meet Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity and ABET accreditation. Wang also said that he was hopeful to further partnerships between North Idaho College and UI’s Coeur d’Alene campus where a selection of computer science courses are offered.
The whole course catalog as presented to the faculty senate is available to view through in FS agenda for Feb. 3, 2026, on the UI shared governance website.
Joshua Reisenfeld can be reached at [email protected].