The University of Texas at Austin is rolling out a single School of Computing that will pull together computer science, the iSchool, and the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences into one powerhouse unit, with a goal of getting AI and data education into far more classrooms across campus. The UT System Board of Regents signed off on the plan on Thursday, and university leaders expect the new school to be up and running by Fall 2026. The unit is slated to recruit roughly 50 faculty members to keep pace with surging student demand and to speed up interdisciplinary research, following months of stepped-up investment in computing faculty and infrastructure on the Forty Acres.
According to the College of Natural Sciences, the School of Computing “will unite the disciplines of computer science, information, statistics and data sciences” and will be housed within the college. The school is described as a university-wide resource meant to open computing and AI coursework to students across majors while helping launch large-scale, cross-cutting research efforts.
Dean David Vanden Bout said in the college release that pulling these units together is meant to accelerate discovery and help Texas attract top talent. Peter Stone, chair of the Department of Computer Science and founding director of Texas Robotics, called the new setup a way to build on the university’s “world-class strength in computing, data and information” and has been tapped as special adviser for the school’s formation.
What students and faculty will see
The School of Computing plans to bring on about 50 new faculty members over time, with the aim of widening majors, updating curriculum, and boosting research capacity. That hiring wave builds on a recent round in which UT added 21 computing faculty across departments earlier this month, a move Texas Computing described as the largest recruiting effort in university history.
Why it matters for Austin and beyond
University leaders say combining these programs under one roof should sharpen the pipeline of homegrown talent feeding Austin’s tech sector, while also improving UT’s ability to lead in AI and large-scale computation. The reorganization lines up with broader campus investments in high-end computing, including the Texas Advanced Computing Center’s Leadership-Class Computing Facility and the Horizon supercomputer, which support national-scale AI research, according to UT News.
What the iSchool says
The Texas iSchool has told students that their core degree credentials will stay intact, even as the unit taps new resources for hiring, student services, and interdisciplinary research. In a message to the community, Interim Dean Ken Fleischmann said existing courses and alumni networks will continue, while closer collaboration with computer science and statistics is expected to open up additional research and career pathways, according to Texas iSchool…