Texas Tech, Angelo State to create new artificial intelligence online degree programs
Texas Tech will see a substantial boost from a recently created state fund, is eyeing changes to campus infrastructure and is joining sister school Angelo State in pursuing cutting-edge degree programs, the Texas Tech University System's Board of Regents heard last week.
As the governing board overseeing Texas Tech University , TTU Health Sciences Center , TTUHSC El Paso, Angelo State University and Midwestern State, the regents heard and approved several significant items during their meeting Thursday in Lubbock.
Others are reading: Texas Tech student leaders oppose student housing project, ask city council to reconsider
The items included the creation of new artificial-intelligence degree programs at two universities and a design village at Texas Tech. Additionally, regents were informed of an increase in the Texas University Fund for Texas Tech.
Here is a look at each of the items.
Tech seeks to transform architecture, design education through new building
Functionally obsolete. That is what the former chairman of the TTUS Board of Regents said about the current College of Architecture's building on the campus in Lubbock.
Christopher Huckabee said he donated his family's gift in late 2022 to Texas Tech to update the building . However, after talks with stakeholders and investigating what it would take to update the building, both he and Texas Tech realized it would be costly.
"It is probably the most challenging academic building on campus, which is interesting being the architecture building," Huckabee said. "It's a concrete structure; it's not very flexible."
Others are reading: Proposals to change Tech layout include more green space, moving facilities
Huckabee, who is also an alumnus of Tech's architecture program, said that the current building wasn't a good facility when he attended class in it in 1991.
After extensive studies and scans, Huckabee said it would take over $100 million to retrofit the building to accommodate the students' needs.
"At that point, we said that's probably not a wise spend of the money," Huckabee said.
That is how the new vision of creating a building that would house around 2,000 students from various programs from six colleges - including architecture, agriculture, health and human sciences, visual and performing arts, engineering and business - came to be.
Huckabee said the so-called Design Village would be built just south of the campus library and would foster collaboration between various programs and students.
As for the current building, Huckabee and a recent independent master plan exercise from Texas Tech identified that it would be easier to transform the architecture building into offices, which TTU President Lawrence Schovanec said would be needed.
"We have a real space deficiency where we are going to put all that new faculty we are going to hire from the Texas University Fund," Schovanec said.
However, this new building won't be appearing on campus any time soon. As Huckabee said, the design period will be slow and well thought out, with it expected to open in late 2028 or early 2029.
Texas Tech sees $15 million increase in Texas University Fund funds
Two years ago, Texas voters approved the creation of the $3.9 billion Texas University Fund to help emerging research universities in the state offset costs in hiring faculty, research materials and related needs.
Texas Tech was named one of four universities to receive the fund, with an initial payment of over $44 million from the fund in 2024. President Schovanec said the university has already hired around 20 faculty members with money from the fund.
However, this year, Tech is expected to receive a payment of $60,087,811 from the TUF.
Schovanec said Tech is also using TUF funds to prop up specific programs such as the newly created bachelor of science in biological systems engineering program.
"Of our first distribution of $44 million, we have spent about $30 million," Schovanec said. "It's very much focused on those areas that will generate external funding. Systems engineering is such an example."
Others are reading: Texas Tech looks to secure funding for national security initiative from Texas Legislature
ASU, TTU pursue new AI degrees, TTU shutters a media degree
Angelo State University and Texas Tech received approval to pursue the creation of degree programs centered around artificial intelligence.
ASU will create a master's and bachelor's of science in artificial intelligence, which will be offered entirely online.
According to the regent's agenda book, this is due to the growing interest in AI and its current impact on various industries like healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture and education.
"Unless you've been living under a rock, you know the importance of AI," said ASU Provost Don Toplin. "This is an area that we are rapidly moving into, and one we think is very important from a workforce position."
Others are reading: What is Artificial Intelligence? Expert shares what it is, safety concerns when using it
The bachelor's degree will be a 120-hour program with an included senior capstone project — where students will apply AI techniques to solve real-world issues.
The bachelor program also includes an ethics and social responsibility course in AI and courses in machine learning, deep learning, knowledge engineering in AI, natural language processing and robotics.
The master's program will be a 30-hour program with a thesis or capstone option and courses in adversarial AI, reinforcement learning and AI systems and applications.
If approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, both programs will begin to be offered in the fall 2025 semester ast ASU.
Texas Tech will create a bachelor of science degree in human-centered AI and will be fully offered online with hybrid delivery course options.
"Human-centered AI focuses on the user side of AI, emphasizing the consumption and use of AI technologies in human contexts, supported by fields like ethics, psychology, sociology, communication, management, education and law to bridge the gap between AI producers and users," states the regent's agenda book.
Others are reading: President Trump preps executive order to dismantle Education Department
The THECB and the SACS Commission on Colleges will also review this degree, but it was not mentioned when it would start being offered.
Another academic change coming to Tech is within the College of Media and Communication, as it will end its bachelor of arts in media strategies on Jan. 1, 2029.
As stated in the regent's agenda book, the reason for this is that enrollment in the program has remained flat, and the courses are similar to those already offered in another degree program.
Media strategies will be absorbed by the college's bachelor of arts in digital media and professional communication degree program moving forward.
Mateo Rosiles is the Government & Public Policy reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Got a news tip for him? Email him at mrosiles@lubbockonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: TTU pursues AI degree, receives more funds from Texas University Fund
