The story below appeared in The Parthenon on Thursday, September 9, 2004.

Engineering Students to Stay at MU

by KACY POLK

reporter

Engineering students that might have had to transfer at the end of the year to finish their degree can now stay at Marshall.

This is because of a collaboration effort on the part of West Virginia University, West Virginia Tech and Marshall University.

The three schools will work together to provide Marshall students the opportunity to receive an accredited four-year degree in civil engineering without having to transfer after the first two years.

 "There are only two schools in the state, currently, that offer four-year accredited engineering degrees, and that's West Virginia University and West Virginia tech," Dr. Bill Pierson, Chair of Engineering and Computer Science, said.

 The joint degree program will begin offering classes in the fall of 2005.

"The curriculum is already in place and planned out in elaborate detail," Dr. Betsy Dulin, Dean of the College of Information Technology and Engineering, said.

The collaboration will only offer a degree in civil engineering.

"There is more of an interest in West Virginia for graduates of civil engineering programs," Pierson said.

However, Pierson hopes it will also strengthen the transfer program for other engineering fields.

"A lot of the courses are common to all the disciplines, so students will be able to have a few more courses to select from," Pierson said.

According to Pierson, a lot of students who start in the engineering field change majors in order to stay at Marshall.

"We think this is a way to offer students an alternative." Pierson said. "To stay at Marshall, and still get an engineering degree."

"This is very important for the college," Dulin said. "It provides a wonderful opportunity for students."

Pierson predicts that Marshall faculty, in accordance with Tech's accrediting agency's specifications, will teach most of the courses.

"But there will be some times when it will be to our advantage to use expertise they have up there," Pierson said.

However, because this is a joint degree, all three schools will be involved in the final decision.

"We would not select a professor and not get Tech's blessing, or vise versa," Pierson said.

For students who are interested in the engineering field the honors program will be sponsoring a "What's it Like to be an Engineer" panel at 3pm October 5 in the alumni room of the student center.

"Part of our objective is to expand the size of the pool interested in engineering," Pierson said. "I think Marshall have some advantages of being able to do that because of other resources that are available at Marshall."