Drake University to contribute to Panama national AI strategy with academic programs

Drake University has been named a partner in the artificial intelligence strategy of Panama, a move the university president says builds on the pair’s relationship and expands its mission of meeting learners where they are.

The Des Moines private university, through its establishment of the only data analytics program in the Central American country, was acknowledged by Republic of Panama President José Raúl Mulino as an essential partner in developing talent to help implement its national AI strategy and grow the country’s technology and artificial intelligence economy.

Drake’s role in this work stems from its bachelor’s degree in data analytics and minor in artificial intelligence set to begin next fall at Ciudad del Saber, an education and entrepreneurship hub in Panama City. Drake University President Marty Martin said it was a “special moment” to hear Mulino acknowledge Drake on a national stage.

“We’re far removed from Panama, and yet we have worked so closely with them, and frankly, listened to what they needed, and what they needed aligned with our competency and mission, such that when we combine these partnerships that we have there with the strengths of Drake, our mission orientation, we’re able to find a pathway that’s really in service to that country and that region,” Martin said.

The data analytics and AI programs, announced in October 2025, provide two pathways for Panamanian students — a three-year and one-summer accelerated program where students earn both the bachelor’s degree and minor in Panama and a 2+2 program where students would come to Iowa to complete their last two years.

Martin said the university has worked closely with SENACYT, which when translated stands for National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation, in developing the degrees, and Drake is a partner in the national strategy it crafted focused on AI, semiconductors and microelectronics.

With 17 applications already submitted to Drake, Martin said the university hopes to see a first cohort of 50 students next fall, most likely split evenly between the pathways that keep students in Panama or bring them to Iowa. Martin and other Drake officials will head to Panama next week to participate in a college recruiting fair, which the university sponsors, meeting the country’s minister of innovation and holding an alumni reception.

Drake officials are also in the process of identifying Drake faculty and hiring faculty in Panama, and Dean of Students Jerry Parker has already relocated to the area with his family to stay for the first year. While they haven’t made any decisions yet, Martin said they’re looking at other Drake degree programs to see which would work in Panama.

Panama is home to a “cadre of alumni” from Drake, Martin said, who hold “very prominent positions in the country.” He took his first visit there in 2017 to meet the alumni, who encouraged and supported the university’s efforts to put a presence in Panama, and to visit Ciudad del Saber.

“When you combine the alumni base we have with the wonderful entity that is Ciudad del Saber, it just became a natural place for us to think big,” Martin said.

After the Drake football team took an 11-day trip to Panama in 2024, Martin said he and others knew they had to “find a path” to establishing the university in the country, and visited Panama three times between May 2024 and May 2025 to develop and refine the ideas that led them to this level of partnership.

Drake is pursuing these kinds of programs, in Panama as well as programs with academic partnerships in Singapore and China, for two reasons, Martin said. The first is a driver in many university initiatives — growing enrollment.

As a university that has always been about meeting learners where they are, Martin said those efforts have included meeting students at their current “academic and social maturation,” as well as their geographical location through online programs. Now, he said, the university is “going to physical locations around the world to literally meet learners where they are.”

The second reason is the notion and practice of “civic diplomacy through education,” he said.

“We are much better when we know each other, when we understand each other, because out of that comes trust, and trust is the essential ingredient in this world getting along and progressing,” Martin said. “And so we’re making our own small contribution to that in China, we’ll make it in Singapore, we’ll make it in Panama and other places where we’ll have collaborations.”