DE PERE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — St. Norbert College will offer some new majors starting this fall.
The college has dealt with cuts to staff, programs and deficits.
St. Norbert College is getting ready to offer four new majors including Applied Artificial Intelligence, Business Analytics, Data Science and Nutrition.
Dean of Arts and Sciences Jamie Lynch called it a necessary addition to better prepare students for the careers of tomorrow, with a focus on technology.
“The world’s being transformed by data in unpredictable ways and as we stand up these new programs, we believe this gives us a chance to put our students at the forefront of that conversation,” Lynch said.
In Fiscal Year ’22, St. Norbert faced $8 million in operating losses.
In March 2025, St. Norbert announced it would be cutting staff and eliminating majors like Theology and Religion, Spanish, Physics, among many others.
But now, Lynch said the new programs will help meet student and workforce needs.
“I think that all schools are going through a portfolio refresh and as we think about how to think about the best portfolio that we have, we made these changes at the institution so that we can continue to offer the highest quality educational product that we have,” Lynch said.
Last school year, SNC had nearly 1,500 students enrolled.
It’s not clear what enrollment will be for this fall, but the college expects to see more freshmen.
Lynch expects the new majors will attract even more students.
Before, the college felt there was a gap in the area of artificial intelligence and data analysis.
Associate Professor of Mathematics Jonathan Dunbar was an integral part in creating the data science program.
“Data is becoming a more and more important part of what everybody is doing in their jobs. So, if I can help students at St. Norbert learn to use data in appropriate and ethical ways, then that’s something I really would like to do,” Dunbar said.
Dunbar said teaching students to have expertise in tech and A.I. is key as companies, individuals and governments increasingly use it daily.
“What I don’t want is our students graduating, going into the workforce and finding themselves unprepared to work with data,” Dunbar said.
St. Norbert hopes these new offerings also help better prepare the college for the future.
