The college is teaming up with these private-sector partners to design curriculum for an AI-enabled workforce. Under the grant, Eastern will hire a specialist to develop a one-year certificate program training students on machine learning, data analysis and AI applications, Robert Burns, director of nonprofits and grant management at Eastern, wrote in an email to Government Technology. From there, the program will expand to include an Associate of Applied Science in AI. Both IBM and Northrop Grumman will help define competencies most needed by employers and may also offer apprenticeships or staff support.
Burns said the new certificate builds on the college's existing efforts, like their cyber intelligence degree program and a one-day prompt engineering course held in June. Free to residents of neighboring counties, the school offered 45-minute sessions introducing ChatGPT and providing demos.
“Following our successful one-day seminar on AI prompt development, we recognized a genuine and growing community need for structured training in AI skill sets,” Burns wrote in an email. “In addition, our technology partners, IBM and Northrop Grumman, confirmed a direct need for workers with applied AI skills.”
What Burns noticed is not unique to West Virginia. Nearly 57 million white-collar workers in America are interested in gaining AI skills, and only 15 percent of them are currently enrolled in structured learning programs to do so, according to a report last month from higher-ed research firm Validated Insights.
The same report found that demand for credential-bearing AI programs is growing quickly. From 2016 to 2023, completions of AI degrees and certificates grew by almost 10 times.
Looking forward, Eastern WVCTC hopes to continue its AI work with stand-alone AI modules oriented toward workforce development. Burns said the courses would be stackable and count toward the AI certificate and degree programs, serving shorter-term upskilling and longer-term academic interests alike.
