By Jennifer K. Morita

April 21, 2025

The College of Business at Sacramento State will soon offer a new concentration on practical applications of artificial intelligence, one of the first in the CSU system, to prepare students to use the rapidly changing technology in the business world.

“Artificial intelligence is a momentous innovation, comparable to the advent of the internet or smart phones,” College of Business Dean Jean-Francois Coget said. “It’s going to transform how we do everything in business, from marketing to finance to accounting to strategy to supply chain.

“It’s incredibly necessary for students to master those tools now so they can succeed in the business conditions of tomorrow in a revolution that is happening fast.”

The College of Business is one of the most popular academic programs at Sac State, with more than 4,000 undergraduates who must select a concentration for their bachelor of arts degree. Currently, the college has 10 concentrations, including:

• Accountancy
• Business Analytics
• Entrepreneurship
• Finance
• General Management
• Management of Human Resources & Organizational Behavior
• International Business
• Marketing Information Systems
• Marketing
• Supply Chain Management

While the proposal for the new AI concentration makes its way through the approval process, students can take its required courses beginning in fall 2025. A Business AI minor is also in the works.

“We are in the state capital, close to Silicon Valley where the innovation is happening, and we have an excellent Information Systems and Business Analytics department that is willing to innovate,” Coget said.

“We are also one of the first CSU campuses to offer an AI program, and that will be a big draw to students and employers looking for people to hire.”

Professor Joseph Taylor, who chairs the Information Systems & Business Analytics Department, said the new program will focus on the practical applications of AI, evolving regulations and ethical use of the technology.

“AI is going to be transformative the same way the internet or the PC was transformative. It’s going to touch everything at the University,” Taylor said.

“This is really about the University and our programs evolving to meet the needs of the changing workforce. … This new concentration will be about how we help somebody step in and use AI tools to productively create a useful application to solve a problem.”

The AI concentration will include five required courses as well as three electives.

One of the classes will include an AI practicum designed to prepare students for their careers. Students will work with an actual client – such as a small, local business or nonprofit community organization – to design, build and implement an AI application as well as deal with procedures.

“Students will get hands-on, direct experience,” Taylor said.

Artificial intelligence is already changing the business world, added Taylor, who spent 20 years in strategic planning and innovation at a large corporation before moving into academia. Banks, for example, are looking at using AI to review loan applications, which could speed up the process and eliminate the need for junior analysts. Many of those junior analyst positions, however, are first jobs for Sac State graduates.

“That means we need to think differently about what we teach,” Taylor said. “It’s important to recognize that the nature of jobs will change.”

And they’re changing fast. Normally, it can take up to three years to implement a new program. Coget, however, said the college worked quickly to get the concentration through the approval process to better serve students.

“Companies are using AI in ways that will knock the socks off traditional companies,” Coget said. “The revolution is happening. Speed is of the essence if we want to catch the wave.”