Fresno City College and Fresno State are partnering on two free public workshops this summer aimed at helping community members develop practical artificial intelligence skills.

The five-hour hands-on trainings, sponsored by Granville Homes, will be held June 6 at the Fresno State campus and July 11 at Fresno City College. The workshops were co-developed and will be co-led by Todd McLeod, a professor of information systems at Fresno City College, and Dr. Shih-Hsi (Alex) Liu, chair of the Department of Computer Science at Fresno State.

Students from both campuses will serve as on-site tutors during the sessions, which are designed to help participants learn how to use AI tools more effectively in their work.

Organizers said the partnership emerged from a shared concern that while AI technologies have become widely available, many professionals struggle to use them effectively.

Workshops to Focus on Prompting, Work-Related Tasks

The workshops will focus on prompting and asking AI systems effective questions while emphasizing hands-on learning and using the participants’ work-related tasks.

“AI can help businesses operate more efficiently, effectively, and profitably,” McLeod said. “We want to see local businesses maximize what they can achieve — to uplift our community and our economy. In just one day, Alex and I believe this training can significantly change how a business uses AI.”

Liu said AI proficiency has become an essential workplace skill and that involving students as tutors was a key part of the program’s design.

“AI literacy is no longer optional for anyone entering the workforce — it’s foundational,” Liu said. “There’s no better way to deepen mastery than to help someone else understand a concept, and no better way to serve our community than to share what we know.”

Granville Homes President and CEO Darius Assemi said the company chose to sponsor the workshops because of AI’s growing influence across industries.

“AI is reshaping every industry, and the Central Valley can’t afford to be left behind,” Assemi said. “As a proud Fresno State alum, I’m thrilled to see our universities and community colleges working together to bring this training to anyone who wants it.”

(Disclosure: Darius Assemi is the publisher of GV Wire)

Students Excited to Introduce AI

Students involved in the program also expressed enthusiasm about helping introduce AI tools to a broader audience.

“When we heard our college was partnering with Fresno State on this, the Startup Club jumped at the chance to be part of it,” said Jay Parangalan, president of the Fresno City College Startup Club. “AI is the single biggest tool any new business can use right now, and being able to share that with our community — especially with people who didn’t grow up around this technology — is something we’re genuinely excited about.”

The workshops are free and open to the public, though registration is encouraged. Participants are asked to bring a laptop, an AI chatbot of their choice, including Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot, and real work tasks they would like to explore using AI. No prior AI experience is required.

Workshop Information

The first workshop will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 6, in Room 139 of the Student Recreation Center at California State University, Fresno.

The second workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, July 11, at the Old Administration Building Auditorium at Fresno City College.

Click here to register. 

 

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