The changes align with a consistent theme from state leaders in recent years — that higher education in the state needs to shape itself around labor market demand and prioritize high-earning programs.
“We talked a lot today about how important it is that, as an enterprise, higher education is able to provide the workforce that Louisiana needs,” said Tristan Denley, deputy commissioner for academic affairs and innovation. “We need to do it in ways that provide our campuses with flexibility and nimbleness.”
AI DEGREE OT BUILD ON EXISTING CURRICULUM
The four-year AI degree at LSU is the first of its kind in the state, according to Denley. He said the curriculum will include rigorous mathematics, computer science and AI theory courses, with a focus on the development and implementation of the technology.
“It is a program which is not to teach people about AI, but it is a program to teach people how to be AI engineers,” Denley said.
“Energy, petrochemical, health care, defense and logistics employers in the state are actively integrating AI for predictive analytics, optimization, autonomy, and digital transformation,” the proposal to the board of supervisors said. “LSU’s proposed degree directly addresses this need by producing graduates with the technical depth, ethical grounding and hands-on experience required to build and deploy reliable AI systems at scale.”
'TALL, SKINNY DEGREE'
The Board of Regents also established a 90-hour bachelor’s degree and signed off on the first two of such programs in the state — information technology and bioinformatics, both at LSU at Alexandria.
Denley called the accelerated bachelor’s option a “tall, skinny degree” that doesn’t sacrifice depth but does slim down the breadth of study.
"Because of that 90-hour rather than 120, they’re not able to go quite as broad into other areas and other disciplines,” Denley said. “Instead, they spend more of a proportion of their time concentrating on that specific area of concentration.”
Students pursuing an accelerated bachelor’s, abbreviated “AccB,” will still have general education requirements, but up to 12 hours of that coursework can be replaced by discipline-specific classes under the new degree model.
The degree type will follow the typical approval process, first at the campus level and then at the system level, with the Board of Regents making the final decision on whether to accept or reject a program.
The approval of the two accelerated degrees at LSU-A marked one of the last major projects under Chancellor Paul Coreil, who will retire July 1.
Coreil, thanking the regents for greenlighting the proposal, said the 90-hour model will get students into the workforce faster and with less expense.
“At higher ed, one of the criticisms is we move too slow,” Coreil said. “You’re not moving slow now.”
STATE LEADERS CALL FOR ALIGNMENT WITH JOB MARKET
The moves Tuesday come amid a push from Louisiana lawmakers to mold higher education around industry needs and economic realities.
A handful of bills filed during the regular legislative session deal directly with workforce development at public colleges and universities. The Board of Regents and Louisiana Works would be required to create a statewide career dashboard with information on the employment outcomes and wages of different academic programs if Senate Bill 305 passes.
Another piece of legislation, House Bill 229, would prohibit the use of state funds for degrees with low earning potential, mirroring the “do no harm” framework established for federal student loan recipients under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“We’re going to have a healthy job market in terms of opportunity,” Rep. John Wyble, R-Franklinton, who authored the bill, said earlier this month. “We’re going to invest those dollars strategically to make sure that we’re producing that workforce.”
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