August 27, 2001

New Engineering Programs Important For WKU And Region

Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University is beginning its new degree programs in engineering with four new faculty members and more than 150 students, including 48 freshmen.

"Establishing an engineering program at Western is a very important point in the history of this institution," said Dr. John Russell, department head. "Our current benchmarks don't have engineering programs. We rise as an institution to another level as we begin to incorporate professional programs such as engineering."

Dr. Russell expects growth to continue in the civil, mechanical and electrical engineering programs and plans to hire four more faculty members (for a total of 12 in the three programs) in the next two years. The programs also will move into a new science facility that will be built near Snell Hall.

"We will attract strong students. We will attract strong and active faculty," Dr. Russell said. "Our status as an institution will be enhanced and our opportunity to continue to develop as an institution will be strengthened by virtue of the success of these programs."

Earlier this year, the Council on Postsecondary Education approved an agreement under which joint degrees between Western, the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville will be offered.

"These engineering programs pragmatically and symbolically represent the intellectual and physical transformation under way at Western as well as our emphasis on impacting the economic development of our region," President Gary Ransdell said.

Engineering programs at Western not only benefit the University and its students but the surrounding region as well, Dr. Russell said. That was a key element of a "Strategy for Statewide Engineering in Kentucky" approved last year by the CPE.

The statewide strategy says that by expanding the engineering degrees to Western and other comprehensive universities and lifting restrictions on professional certification, Kentucky will reduce its shortage of engineering practitioners, will keep engineering students in the state and will improve its economic development opportunities.

In recent months, Western has worked with UK on the details to offer bachelor's degrees in civil engineering and mechanical engineering and with U of L on the details to offer bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering.

With those steps completed, "we begin this fall our march toward accreditation of these programs," Dr. Ransdell said.

The WKU engineering program will become eligible for accreditation review from the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology (EAC/ABET) when the first graduates are produced in the spring of 2004, Dr. Russell said.

In making the transition from engineering technology degrees to engineering degrees, Western has revised its curriculum and hired new faculty members. The joint degree programs, which will be offered on Western's campus, will offer comparable curriculum and common admissions standards with those at UK and U of L.

But, Dr. Russell noted, "our program will be uniquely ours in nature." Western's engineering program will be student-centered, baccalaureate-driven and learner-driven and will be built on the department's project-based learning philosophy.

"Our students will have the opportunity not just to study about engineering but to engage in activities that give them experience in the practice of engineering," he said.

New engineering faculty members are:
Dr. Christopher E. Byrne, an assistant professor in mechanical engineering, who earned a doctorate at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Mark E. Cambron, an assistant professor in electrical engineering, who earned a doctorate at Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Robert McKim, an associate professor in civil engineering, who earned a doctorate at Canada's University of Waterloo.

Dr. George Wakileh, an associate professor in electrical engineering, who earned a doctorate at Kansas State University.

For more information, contact Dr. John Russell at (270) 745-6394. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.