New engineering program announced
By Shayna Strang, staff writer
Posted on January 18, 2006

Earlier this month, a proposal for a new engineering program at JMU was approved by the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia.

“It was a natural offshoot of several other programs,” Douglas T. Brown, JMU’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, said.

For nearly two years, a committee composed of faculty from the College of Science and Mathematics, the College of Business and the College of Integrated Science and Technology deliberated and developed curriculum for the program. Their proposal was accepted by the Board of Visitors last summer and more recently by SCHEV, said Ronald Kander, a member of the committee and head of the department of integrated science and technology.

“Engineering is such a vital economic device,” said T. Dary Erwin, associate vice president of academic affairs for assessment and public policy and head of the program committee. “We know a lot of students that consider JMU are interested in engineering.”

When discussions began, the committee looked at SAT scores sent to JMU in June 2005. Despite the lack of an engineering program previously, more than 1,100 first-time students indicated an interest in engineering on their SATs, Erwin said.

Interested students will need admission to JMU along with a strong math and science background. Currently, the earliest possible entering class will be in the fall of 2008, Kander said. The program will be open to freshmen and transfer students. Many community colleges are already looking to form articulation agreements with the program in the future, Kander said.

“With the way things have been going, we will need knowledgeable and inventive people for the future,” junior Kelly Christian said. “This program can provide this.”

Before the program can accept applications, new faculty must be hired and three new labs will be constructed. At the moment, a lobbying effort is going on to raise money for the program, Erwin said. The support will go toward the new faculty and buildings, as well as for staff and daily operations. With the additional funding and external grants a program like this brings in, it is too early to know how much funding the program will receive, Kander said.

“The world will benefit from it because the focus of the program is sustainability, which is important as our environmental impact increases,” senior Luke Ryan said.

Students aren’t the only ones taking notice of the program. Employers and community colleges are looking at the advantages the curriculum will offer future students, Erwin said.

The new program will require students to take part in applied projects and more business classes, which will ultimately benefit students in their career.

“The kinds of programs we are developing and the partnership with SRI will provide some of the best opportunities in the world for our students,” Brown said, referring to the recently announced JMU-SRI partnership.

According to the program description, the discipline will emphasize general engineering with a focus on sustainable systems design and analysis. The program is unlike other programs because of this emphasis on sustainability, Kander said.

“Many times we forget about our impact on the environment, and it is important to preserve it for future generations,” Ryan said.

Kander said the program also stands out among other schools in Virginia, because it will give students a degree in general engineering, while most schools have colleges for specific types of engineering, such as chemical or mechanical. The general engineering degree coupled with a strong liberal arts degree will provide students with an experience they can’t get anywhere else.

“The last century was known as the century of information sciences,” Brown said. “This century will be the century of the biological sciences.”