HOUGHTON — the new Data Science Department within Michigan Tech Technological University’s College of Computing was approved at last week’s Board of Trustees meeting. According to the Dave House Dean of Computing, Dennis Livesay, the new department is slated to officially launch on July 1. Livesay said aAn interim chair is expected to be announced next week. “Between now and then, there’s a ton of behind the scenes stuff to get sorted out. Much of it is technical, including creating org codes and financial indices — updating the HR system,” Livesay said. “We mostly know who will be in the new department, but affiliate and joint faculty appointments are still to be discussed and considered.”

The proposal of the new department, authored by Livesay, was sent to Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Andrew Storer, in November. It was approved by the University Senate in February.

The proposal states the aim of creating a new department is to “unify our data science and informatics programs and faculty, which are currently spread across our other two departments.”

Livesay proposes a multi-multifaceted approach to creating the department. He also proposes having a split-department management of the BS and MS in Data Science is detrimental to students.

“Data science programs that are overseen by interdepartmental collaborations find it difficult to have a fully integrated and balanced curriculum,” page two states.

The Data Science program, established in 2014 with the creation of the MS in Data Science, was underperforming in relation to MTU’s peers. According to the proposal, since the program moved to the College of Computing in 2022, enrollment for the program tripled.

On page three of the proposal, Livesay states the cost to create the new department is less than $50,000 per year. He also states most administrative work has already been completed to ensure the success of the new department.

The space where the department will reside in has also been decided. The third floor of Rekhi Hall will be the new home of the Data Science Department at MTU.

“Repurposing two large graduate student “bullpen” spaces on the third floor of Rekhi Hall, last year we created mini-suites for our current departments,” page four states. “This freed up space in the dean’s office suite.”

Enrollment projections for this new department and its programs are expected to maintain.

“Enrollment in the BS program has been steady and reliable, which is expected to continue,” page five states.