The University of San Diego is expanding its MS in Applied Artificial Intelligence with a new course, Agentic AI Systems, launching in Summer 2026.
Agentic AI represents a major shift in how artificial intelligence systems operate. Rather than simply responding to prompts, agentic AI systems are designed to set goals, plan sequences of actions, and autonomously execute tasks using external tools and APIs with minimal human oversight. These capabilities allow agents to manage and optimize complex workflows, make decisions, and adapt to new information, cutting low-value work time by 25-40%. As a result, organizations across industries are exploring agentic approaches to automate processes and support decision-making at scale, with many leaders anticipating broader integration of autonomous systems in core business operations.
USD’s new course will provide students with a practical foundation in the design, development, and evaluation of AI agents. As agent-based architectures become increasingly relevant across industries, the course is designed to help students understand both the technical components and the broader responsibilities involved in deploying these systems.
Course topics will include the core architecture of AI agents, common development workflows, and widely used agent frameworks and platforms. Students will explore essential tooling such as function calling, interoperability standards like MCP, vector search and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and the role of large language models (LLMs) as cognitive engines within agentic systems. The curriculum also addresses evaluation methodologies, integrating domain feedback directly into agents, multi-agent coordination, and ethical and security considerations, including fairness, transparency, and accountability.
Agentic AI Systems is being developed by Wesley Pasfield, GenAI and ML Specialist Solutions Architect at Databricks. Pasfield specializes in agentic AI evaluation and self-optimizing systems guided by domain expertise, and has been an instructor in the Applied Artificial Intelligence program at USD since 2022.
With the addition of Agentic AI Systems, the University of San Diego continues to evolve its Applied AI curriculum to reflect the technologies shaping today’s AI landscape, equipping graduates with the skills to build, evaluate, and responsibly manage intelligent systems in real-world environments.
