MALVERN, Pa. — Penn State Great Valley will offer a master of business administration in artificial intelligence (AI) beginning in fall 2026. This 33-credit interdisciplinary program is designed to meet the growing need for business leaders who are proficient in both AI and management, enabling them to develop and deploy AI-enabled business solutions, drive strategic innovation, and maintain a competitive advantage in the rapidly evolving business landscape.
“In our MBA in AI program, we integrate technical AI expertise with business leadership and domain knowledge to prepare professionals to lead AI-driven innovation and transformation,” said Leo Liu, director of Great Valley’s management programs and professor of business administration.
College graduates with undergraduate degrees in any discipline are welcome to apply to the MBA in AI. Graduates of the program will be prepared to build AI-powered enterprises, oversee AI strategy, and translate business objectives into data-driven, AI-powered solutions. They will be positioned to gain a competitive edge in the job market, leveraging AI for strategic decision-making, operational efficiency, and ethical and socially responsible AI use.
Courses such as Artificial Intelligence in Practice and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence introduce students to the operationalization and governance of AI in enterprise settings. Foundational business courses in marketing, finance, management and accounting ensure students gain fluency in strategic decision-making and organizational leadership.
Students may choose three elective courses, allowing them to customize their learning path and explore topics such as deep learning, natural language processing and generative AI, or venture start-up, corporate innovation strategies and operations management. Some electives may require prior coursework in programming, calculus, linear algebra and statistics. Penn State Great Valley offers low-cost, noncredit online prep modules to fulfill these prerequisites.
Students will complete a capstone project, working in teams to design, implement and present a comprehensive AI solution tailored to a real-world organizational challenge. This experience allows students to synthesize their learning, apply AI methodologies in business contexts and demonstrate their skills to current or potential employers.
Part-time students can complete the MBA in AI in as little as 18 months. Hybrid, seven-week classes in this STEM-designated program alternate between in-person and online sessions, offering students both flexibility and access to Great Valley’s state-of-the-art research labs, while meeting visa requirements for international students.
Business and artificial intelligence master’s programs
The MBA in AI program combines elements from Great Valley’s existing MBA program and master of artificial intelligence. The MBA in AI primarily prepares students to lead AI initiatives, while the MBA focuses on leading organizations, and the master of AI emphasizes building AI systems.
Great Valley’s existing MBA program focuses on building students’ domain expertise in business, enhancing it with AI collaboration but without requiring any previous programming coursework. Starting this fall, AI will be integrated into each course of the MBA core curriculum to improve students’ AI literacy and their ability to integrate AI tools into business contexts.
The master of AI program is a coding-intensive degree that focuses on AI engineering and requires an in-depth background in math, programming and probability or statistics. Students learn to develop and deploy AI and machine learning systems while implementing robust data pipelines that support AI workloads.
Penn State is shaping the future of higher education in the age of artificial intelligence. Our focus is on human-centered, ethical AI innovation that delivers meaningful impacts for Penn State and the broader community. Through visionary planning, strategic partnerships, targeted hiring and strategic investments, we will equip every Penn State student, staff member and faculty member with the AI-related knowledge, experience and confidence they need to succeed in the AI-powered future. Learn more at Penn State’s website on AI.