Taylor University is prepared to launch three new majors in Fall 2026: construction management, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and music production, songwriting and business. Each major is a Bachelor of Science.
Construction management major
The construction major is 87 or 88 credit hours, depending on the science class chosen by the student, Danielle Nobles-Lookingbill, current department chair and assistant professor of engineering, said.
The major merges engineering and business management with construction to ensure students are prepared for construction management as their career.
A student hoping to enter this field needs to understand engineering plans and blueprints so they can create safe buildings that pass inspections, Nobles-Lookingbill said. The business classes teach future construction managers to navigate contractors, timing and budgeting.
Several construction-centric classes were created for this major, including construction safety and field operations, asphalt, concrete and soil mechanics lab and electrical and plumbing systems lab. Students will utilize blueprints from construction services and 1846 Enterprises in class.
The construction major sprang from the Lilly Endowment, as Taylor’s reception of it included a proposal for Taylor to consider a construction major. Part of the funding comes from this grant, Nobles-Lookingbill said.
There is also a need for more construction managers, specifically Christian construction managers, in Indiana and the larger United States, she said.
“As we (Taylor) seek new majors, we really are looking at how we can best serve Indiana, and, you know, surrounding states … ” she said. “So construction management being one of those that is in greater need is probably the catalyst for starting, like, construction management program,” she said.
Because the majority of classes will be in construction and engineering, the major is held under the engineering department.
AI and machine learning major
The AI major will be 90 credit hours, Jon Denning, department chair and associate professor of computer science and engineering said.
The major will teach students the fundamentals of AI rather than how to use it.
“If somebody is just interested in using AI to do this or that, it's probably not going to be their thing,” Denning said. “Because, I mean, how many different AI tools out there are there now, and they keep changing drastically. And if we were to talk about, you know, prompt engineering, well, two weeks later, how you do prompt engineering is going to be entirely different.”
The Computer Science and Engineering department wants to teach students how AI models work “under the hood” so future professionals know how to build, and enhance and understand its limitations and what it can and can’t do, Denning said. They will also discuss AI from a Christian perspective, looking at questions like if AI should be in charge of defense systems.
The AI major has been an idea in the computer science department for a couple of years. The department developed it slowly wanting to make sure AI wasn’t just hype, but something that would stick around.
The Taylor administration started to get interested, so the department added an AI concentration in Fall 2025.
They didn’t have the classes or faculty necessary to turn it into a full major at the time.
“We said, ‘if we're going to have a major, we would like to do it well,’” Denning said. “So we pulled together a few more, few additional courses, ones that we thought would be really important for students to have.”
Students will learn how to take a calculation and spread it across multiple machines, how to store and retrieve information efficiently, design, algorithms design and more, Denning said.
The AI major adds only a couple of extra courses than the concentration and was created mostly for marketing, Denning said. Students taking the concentration don’t have to take the other classes, but would be allowed to take them if they wanted to.
There will also be an AI minor.
Music production, songwriting and business major
At 70 credits, the music production, songwriting and business major prepares students who love creating their own music to work in that field after school, Todd Syswerda, professor of music composition, songwriting and music technology said.
Students will learn to create and produce music, along with finances and marketing, so they can understand the profession and do it independently if desired.
Syswerda said it’s often difficult for arts students to know the next step after graduation. This degree is designed to get students to that next step.
“A lot of times, though, in the arts, it's hard to have a plan beyond graduation, and so I'm trying to help, at least get someone to square one or two, versus starting at square zero,” he said.
This major mostly combines pre-existing classes that already exist from the music and business departments, but will have a few new ones.
Some of these new classes will teach students how to use a recording studio. To make this possible, a recording studio will be added to Smith-Hermanson Music Center this summer, Syswerda said.
