{"id":231649,"date":"2026-04-06T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/06\/new-track-in-artificial-intelligence-added-to-arkansas-tech-university-curriculum\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T05:35:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:35:17","slug":"new-track-in-artificial-intelligence-added-to-arkansas-tech-university-curriculum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/06\/new-track-in-artificial-intelligence-added-to-arkansas-tech-university-curriculum\/","title":{"rendered":"New track in artificial intelligence added to Arkansas Tech University curriculum"},"content":{"rendered":"

New track in artificial intelligence added to Arkansas Tech University curriculum<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.rivervalleydemocratgazette.com\/news\/2026\/apr\/06\/new-track-in-artificial-intelligence-added-to\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-04-06 05:00:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.rivervalleydemocratgazette.com<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSSELLVILLE — Arkansas Tech University will offer an artificial intelligence track starting this fall as part of its bachelor of science degree in computer science.<\/p>\n

Logan Dawson, one of the first Arkansas Tech students who will pursue the new academic track in AI, said he understands he is on the leading edge of a technology that will help shape his generation.<\/p>\n

“I want to be part of the team that makes an AI that changes the world,” said Dawson, a junior from Des Arc.<\/p>\n

The AI option is “driven by increasing demand for graduates with specialized knowledge in AI and machine learning across nearly every industry sector, as indicated by our advisory board members in our most recent meeting,” according to documentation provided by the university to the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board in a letter of notification concerning the new track.<\/p>\n

The letter goes on to state that health care, finance, manufacturing, education and transportation are among the industries that need “computing professionals who are not only technically proficient, but also prepared to address the ethical, social and practical implications of AI systems.”<\/p>\n

Juan Jose Almaraz, a junior and Clarksville resident, will join Dawson among the first ATU students to pursue the AI track, according to the release.<\/p>\n

“Ultimately, a big worry with AI is that it’s going to steal people’s jobs,” Almaraz said. “But the thing about artificial intelligence is that it needs to be studied and understood, and that’s why humans are here. We need to be able to learn and understand it and use it as a tool rather than a handicap.<\/p>\n

“It opens a lot of possibilities for outcomes. I think about it like the introduction of the calculator. A lot of people were worried it was going to steal mathematicians’ jobs, but rather than taking that away it gave us opportunities to do more calculations and better understand them.”<\/p>\n

Almaraz said he envisions a world where the technical aspects of AI will unlock the door to advances…<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New track in artificial intelligence added to Arkansas Tech University curriculum https:\/\/www.rivervalleydemocratgazette.com\/news\/2026\/apr\/06\/new-track-in-artificial-intelligence-added-to\/ Publish Date: 2026-04-06…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":231650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wehco.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com\/imports\/adg\/photos\/212588015_Arkansas-Tech-University-Artificial-Intelligence-Feature-March-2026_t1200.jpg?57a0c2296240c280e9492005c3cad63e7cbe80f4","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231649"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231651,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231649\/revisions\/231651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}