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Campbell trustees approve creation of engineering degree
Campbell names consultant for proposed engineering program
Paul Kauffmann: This is the right time & Campbell is the right place for an engineering degree
BUIES CREEK — The Campbell University Board of Trustees’ Executive Committee approved today a feasibility study recommending the establishment of the university’s eighth school: the School of Engineering.
The full Board of Trustees will vote on the measure during an Oct. 22 meeting. If approved, Campbell will move forward with plans to establish a School of Engineering and begin offering a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree in the fall of 2016, pending approval by accrediting agencies.
“I’d like to thank Campbell University President Jerry Wallace and Provost Mark Hammond for their diligence in continuing to evaluate the best ways for the university to expand its mission to serve the state of North Carolina and region through its academic offerings,” said Benjamin N. Thompson, chair of the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee. “It’s clear that Campbell has the means and capability to add a School of Engineering that will be extremely beneficial to both the university and to the state and region. I look forward to the full Board of Trustees voting on approving this recommendation.”
Last May the full board approved the creation of a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree at Campbell. This new proposal would take the degree program to another level, leading to the formation of Campbell’s second new school in five years. (Campbell opened the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine in 2013.)
“Receiving the Executive Committee’s support to move forward with our feasibility study to establish a School of Engineering at Campbell is nothing short of astounding,” said Mark L. Hammond, Campbell’s vice president for academic affairs and provost. “Our decades-long tradition of program excellence in science, math and health care has provided a solid foundation upon which we will expand and educate a new generation of problem-solving engineers for North Carolina and our country.”
Campbell has been working with consultant Paul Kauffmann, professor emeritus of engineering at East Carolina University, to flesh out the engineering feasibility study and provide guidance on program development.
During a visit to campus this summer, Kauffmann said: “I see Campbell’s vision for an engineering program as a huge positive for the university and for the state of North Carolina. The program will help fill a need for more engineers and a more globally-competitive workforce in North Carolina. Engineering will also add to Campbell’s portfolio of excellent science- and mathematics-oriented programs.”
According to a Presidential Advisory Council report, colleges need to produce a million more graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields over the next decade to meet expected U.S. workforce needs.
In addition, between 50 to 80 percent of job growth in the United States is dependent on scientists and engineers, according to a 2010 National Academy of Sciences report. But North Carolina, the 10th largest state in the nation, is home to only 2.7 percent of all the engineers who live in the U.S.
“North Carolina is not producing enough engineers,” Kauffmann said in July. “None of us can predict the global economy and the future, but there is broad agreement that we need a larger percentage of the population and those newly entering the workforce to have more technical, quantitative skills. That’s why I think this is the right time and [Campbell is] the right place for a new engineering degree.”