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A&M breaking ground on engineering building
$12.5M facility will allow newly accredited programs to expand
10/03/01
By MEGAN N. WALDE
Times Staff Writer meganw@htimes.com
Alabama A&M University was to break ground today on a $12.5 million engineering building that will let the school's newly accredited engineering programs expand.
The university's civil, electrical and mechanical engineering programs earned national accreditation in July. That means more local support for the university's engineering programs, faculty members said. The accreditation also means students have more options for jobs after graduation.
"Many companies are very selective," said Ruben Rojas-Oviendo, chairman of A&M's mechanical engineering department. "If the program is accredited, they are more likely to come and recruit from our campus."
The university's electrical and mechanical engineering technology programs have received reaccreditation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, known as ABET, in July as well. The seven engineering programs at the University of Alabama in Huntsville are also accredited by ABET.
An "accredited" program meets a specific set of academic standards set by a particular agency. A&M is one of only 10 historically black colleges and universities in the country with nationally accredited engineering programs.
Those are monumental achievements for programs that started only four years ago, said Trent Montgomery, chairman of the electrical engineering department.
From scratch
"We started the program literally from scratch," Montgomery said. "We had nothing but a right to offer one course, and that was pretty much it."
The electrical engineering program has grown from six students that first year to 175 this fall.
A&M won the right to have its own engineering programs in 1995 as part of the Knight v. State of Alabama desegration law suit. The state argued engineering programs at A&M would be duplication; five Alabama schools already trained engineers.
"But when you looked at those numbers, only about 5 percent of those graduates were black," said Dr. Arthur Bonds, dean of engineering. "So there was, and still is, a need for A&M to have these programs."
Parallel programs
Even though A&M and UAH now have parallel programs, Montgomery said there is more emphasis on cooperation and less on competition. Students have the option to take some classes at either school; each school tries to take advantage of instructors with different specialties.
"We try to coordinate our efforts, since we both want to make Huntsville more attractive to industry coming in," Montgomery said. "Our hope is that the two programs make it easier to attract those companies."
A&M accreditation gives local employers new reasons to recruit there.
Better faculty
First, federal contractors can't hire graduates from nonaccredited programs. Second, accreditation will attract even better faculty and students to the programs.
That, in turn, attracts scholarship dollars and industry-sponsored co-op and internship programs, Montgomery said.
Companies also look at accreditation for a simple assurance graduates have the skills they need for the job.
"Companies want to know the degree you have is solid," Boeing executive Livingston Holder said.
Boeing liaison
Holder has been the liaison between Boeing and the A&M engineering department through a years-long alliance between the two. He said A&M's engineering programs are particularly good at giving students a mix of academic and practical knowledge.
"When (students) come into the work force and this or that tool are not unfamiliar to them, they are so much more valuable," he said. "It's like night and day for us."
The new 86,000-square-foot engineering building off Chase Road will exchange old equipment for new and replace cramped classrooms and offices with badly needed labs.
Hands-on program
"Engineering is a very hands-on program, and the equipment is fundamental to the research we do," Rojas-Oviendo said. "You can't talk about engineering without talking about space for labs."
Katrina Risher, who completed A&M's electrical engineering technology program in 1998, said she remembers outdated equipment. But even then, she says, she took important tools from the program to the work force.
"They made us write a lot of lab reports and do many presentations of our work, which I didn't understand," said Risher, an engineer for Boeing. "Now, I run into people who can't (do those things), and I'm glad they emphasized it."
Field skills
That emphasis of specific field skills is one of the strong points of the A&M engineering programs, Holder said.
"They have matured in that they continue to try to understand what industry is doing . . .," he said.
The engineering building should be ready for students and faculty by November 2002.
A&M breaking ground on engineering building
$12.5M facility will allow newly accredited programs to expand
10/03/01
By MEGAN N. WALDE
Times Staff Writer meganw@htimes.com
Alabama A&M University was to break ground today on a $12.5 million engineering building that will let the school's newly accredited engineering programs expand.
The university's civil, electrical and mechanical engineering programs earned national accreditation in July. That means more local support for the university's engineering programs, faculty members said. The accreditation also means students have more options for jobs after graduation.
"Many companies are very selective," said Ruben Rojas-Oviendo, chairman of A&M's mechanical engineering department. "If the program is accredited, they are more likely to come and recruit from our campus."
The university's electrical and mechanical engineering technology programs have received reaccreditation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, known as ABET, in July as well. The seven engineering programs at the University of Alabama in Huntsville are also accredited by ABET.
An "accredited" program meets a specific set of academic standards set by a particular agency. A&M is one of only 10 historically black colleges and universities in the country with nationally accredited engineering programs.
Those are monumental achievements for programs that started only four years ago, said Trent Montgomery, chairman of the electrical engineering department.
From scratch
"We started the program literally from scratch," Montgomery said. "We had nothing but a right to offer one course, and that was pretty much it."
The electrical engineering program has grown from six students that first year to 175 this fall.
A&M won the right to have its own engineering programs in 1995 as part of the Knight v. State of Alabama desegration law suit. The state argued engineering programs at A&M would be duplication; five Alabama schools already trained engineers.
"But when you looked at those numbers, only about 5 percent of those graduates were black," said Dr. Arthur Bonds, dean of engineering. "So there was, and still is, a need for A&M to have these programs."
Parallel programs
Even though A&M and UAH now have parallel programs, Montgomery said there is more emphasis on cooperation and less on competition. Students have the option to take some classes at either school; each school tries to take advantage of instructors with different specialties.
"We try to coordinate our efforts, since we both want to make Huntsville more attractive to industry coming in," Montgomery said. "Our hope is that the two programs make it easier to attract those companies."
A&M accreditation gives local employers new reasons to recruit there.
Better faculty
First, federal contractors can't hire graduates from nonaccredited programs. Second, accreditation will attract even better faculty and students to the programs.
That, in turn, attracts scholarship dollars and industry-sponsored co-op and internship programs, Montgomery said.
Companies also look at accreditation for a simple assurance graduates have the skills they need for the job.
"Companies want to know the degree you have is solid," Boeing executive Livingston Holder said.
Boeing liaison
Holder has been the liaison between Boeing and the A&M engineering department through a years-long alliance between the two. He said A&M's engineering programs are particularly good at giving students a mix of academic and practical knowledge.
"When (students) come into the work force and this or that tool are not unfamiliar to them, they are so much more valuable," he said. "It's like night and day for us."
The new 86,000-square-foot engineering building off Chase Road will exchange old equipment for new and replace cramped classrooms and offices with badly needed labs.
Hands-on program
"Engineering is a very hands-on program, and the equipment is fundamental to the research we do," Rojas-Oviendo said. "You can't talk about engineering without talking about space for labs."
Katrina Risher, who completed A&M's electrical engineering technology program in 1998, said she remembers outdated equipment. But even then, she says, she took important tools from the program to the work force.
"They made us write a lot of lab reports and do many presentations of our work, which I didn't understand," said Risher, an engineer for Boeing. "Now, I run into people who can't (do those things), and I'm glad they emphasized it."
Field skills
That emphasis of specific field skills is one of the strong points of the A&M engineering programs, Holder said.
"They have matured in that they continue to try to understand what industry is doing . . .," he said.
The engineering building should be ready for students and faculty by November 2002.
