www.mdc.edu/collegeforum | MIAMI DADE MDC’s Groundbreaking Bachelor’s in AI Gets Underway @MDCollege | /MDCollege | @MDCollege | Miami Dade College | /MiamiDadeCollege COLLEGE After graduating from Miami Dade College in 2000 with a degree in international relations, Willy Orozco went on to spend two decades teaching high school science. His knack for en-gineering led him to become an instructor of ro-botics and computer science. But now, Orozco believes conquering artificial intelligence (AI) is the key to his future. With that vision, Orozco is set to be among the inaugural group of students starting this fall in MDC’s new bachelor’s degree program in Applied AI, the first of its kind in Florida. And while he doesn’t know exactly where his new path will www.mdc.edu/qep lead, he knows that he in-tends to teach others about the transformative power of AI. “AI isn’t just algorithms and code; it’s about em-powering people with the knowledge to navigate our AI-driven world,” he said. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) FOR ALL f orum September 2024 • Volume 29 • Number 3 Willy Orozco spends much of his time at MDC’s Wolfson Campus AI Center. Antonio Delgado, MDC’s vice president of Innovation and Technology Partnerships, is lead-ing the charge that has made the College a na-tionally recognized pioneer in AI education. He stresses the importance of AI literacy for students in all majors collegewide. That’s the main mantra of MDC’s “AI for All” campaign and the focus of its new Quality Enhancement Plan. “AI should be at the hands of everyone,” Delgado said. “Anyone can start our program without any previous knowledge of programming, computer science or even advanced math.” Unlike many other career paths, the majority of MDC students enrolled in AI courses are not re-cent high school graduates. Approximately 70% are 26 or older, and nearly 30% are over the age of 41. That trend highlights the recognition by working professionals – like Orozco – of AI’s im-portance in the evolving workforce, leading them to seek upskilling and reskilling opportunities to stay current with technology. Continued on page 9 MDC’s Season of the Arts: Showcasing Miami’s Dynamic, Diverse Voices Miami Dade College is back with yet another exciting Season of the Arts, presenting a full lineup of innovative performances, immersive experiences and hands-on workshops that promise to captivate and inspire. This fall, highly anticipated works by top and emerging authors, musicians, dancers, filmmakers and artists will be showcased through the College’s signature arts organizations, including the acclaimed Miami Book Fair, Museum of Art and Design (MOAD), Live Arts Miami, Miami Film Festival’s GEMS and the Koubek Center. MDC’s Wolfson Cam -pus will also present the 26th sea-son of Jazz at Wolfson Presents. The literary heartbeat of Miami will energize crowds again at the renowned Miami Book Fair , when more than 600 authors converge to celebrate the written word. This year’s fair, Nov. 17-24, promises an unforgettable lineup for its popular Evenings With series, including Connie Chung , Erik Larson and Amy Tan . The popular Street Fair and The Next Page fundrais-ing gala also return. Live Arts Miami ushers in its 35 th season with a groundbreaking perfor-mance featuring vignettes between live dancers and KUKA, a robot conceptu-alized and programmed by Taiwanese dancer and inventor Huang Yi . And as the shadows lengthen, Miami Film Festival’s GEMS embraces the ma-cabre, aligning with Halloween and Día de Muertos to showcase over 20 criti-cally acclaimed films. Museum of Art and Design (MOAD) invites participants to join artist Liene Bosquê on a walking workshop near MDC’s downtown Wolfson Cam-pus, creating clay impressions of the sur-rounding environment along the way. For the third year, women musicians and composers from the Caribbean or with Caribbean roots get the op-portunity to showcase their talent at the Koubek Center . Prefer different beats? Take a lunch break or drop by after work for Jazz at Wolfson Presents , a free concert series at Wolfson Campus offering grooves to jazz lovers of all ages. Read about these and other events on pages 12 – 14. MDC’s Season of the Arts will present artists such as clockwise from top right, Ema Ri, Jean Caze and Huang Yi.
College Forum College Forum, Volume 29, Number 3: Page 1
