Mike Swift named associate dean for academic affairs for UW–Madison College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence
A Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Computer Sciences, Swift will oversee the academic mission, including programs, admissions, and career services.
Michael Swift has been named the inaugural associate dean for academic affairs for the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence (CAI).
Swift, a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in the Department of Computer Sciences, will serve as CAI’s senior leader for academic affairs, overseeing the college’s academic mission and areas spanning teaching and learning, academic programs, admissions, career services, and academic support. He will work across CAI’s departments to build the academic infrastructure of the new college while helping shape how its educational programs respond to rapid changes in computing and artificial intelligence.
“Mike is an outstanding researcher and a dedicated and highly regarded teacher, but he’s also one of the most service-minded and collaborative colleagues I know,” Founding Dean Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau said. “I’m excited to have him leading the academic mission of our new college and helping us think ambitiously about the future of education at CAI.”
Swift takes on the role at a consequential moment for computing education and education overall. Advances in artificial intelligence are changing both the skills students will need and the ways they learn, creating new questions about curriculum, teaching and assessment. CAI’s academic priorities include developing new degree programs, expanding career services and teaching and learning support, updating undergraduate curricula, and helping faculty adapt courses and assessments as AI tools become increasingly prevalent.
The college also aims to make its expertise in computing, data, and artificial intelligence more broadly available to students across UW–Madison through majors, master’s programs, certificates, and individual courses, while establishing CAI as a campus leader in AI and education.
“The creation of CAI gives us an opportunity to … [bring] new energy, resources and focus to our departments as we think about what our students will need for the future.”
“Universities around the world are rethinking what they teach and how they teach it,” Swift said. “The creation of CAI gives us an opportunity to tackle those questions now, bringing new energy, resources, and focus to our departments as we think about what our students will need for the future.”
Swift brings nearly two decades of experience at UW–Madison to the role. He previously served as associate chair of the Department of Computer Sciences from 2014 to 2017, during a period of extraordinary growth in computing education, when the number of students majoring in computer sciences grew from 617 to 1,578 — more than two and a half times — between spring 2014 and spring 2017. As the department worked to keep pace with that demand, Swift helped expand the hiring of teaching faculty and establish an undergraduate peer mentor program to increase instructional capacity and support students.
Swift has also held a number of other academic leadership roles in Computer Sciences, including director of graduate studies and four years as director of undergraduate studies. Beyond the department, he has contributed to academic planning and governance through service on the College of Letters & Science Academic Planning Council, Curriculum Committee and Academic Excellence Committee, as well as the Graduate Faculty Executive Committee.
Teaching has also been a significant part of Swift’s career at UW–Madison. He has been recognized multiple times by Computer Sciences students for excellence in classroom teaching, including in 2012, 2018, 2021, and 2026.
Swift is also an accomplished computer systems researcher. His work focuses on the interaction between operating systems and new and emerging hardware technologies. He currently co-leads UW–Madison’s participation in a National Science Foundation Expeditions in Computing project exploring how artificial intelligence can be used to rethink the design of computer operating systems.
In 2024, Swift was named a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor, a UW–Madison honor recognizing distinguished scholarship along with excellence in teaching or service.
Before entering academia, Swift spent eight years at Microsoft in the Windows Operating Systems Group. He earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Cornell University and his doctorate in computer science and engineering from the University of Washington.
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