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Two-Year College Partners with Four-Year University to Offer Evening Engineering Degrees

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The University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley is one of thirteen two-year campuses throughout Wisconsin that comprise the University of Wisconsin Colleges. The UW Colleges belong to the University of Wisconsin System, which also oversees the thirteen four-year public universities throughout the state. UW-Fox Valley is a region located in northeastern Wisconsin with a MSA population of over 300,000 and is a major manufacturing nexus of the state. This significant industrial base utilizes a large number of engineers in their operations. In 1998, local business leaders expressed a need for a baccalaureate level engineering program for non-traditional students who are place bound by circumstance or preference. This program would allow area employees to advance in their profession and provide employers with needed engineering professionals.

This paper discusses the response to industry demand for undergraduate engineering education in northeastern Wisconsin, and how UW-Fox Valley collaborated with the University of Wisconsin-Platteville to develop the Fox Valley Engineering Program. UW-Platteville is a four- year comprehensive university located in southwestern Wisconsin. The two schools had previously established a transfer articulation agreement in engineering, which made this new collaboration a natural partnership. The program utilizes the faculty, pre-engineering curriculum and physical campus of UW-Fox Valley, and the ABET accredited mechanical engineering curriculum, faculty, and equipment of UW-Platteville. Through funding donated by local businesses in the Fox Valley, and appropriation for equipment from the State of Wisconsin, facilities for a mechanical engineering program were constructed and equipped in time for the degree to become available in the fall semester of 2002.

The program currently has an enrollment of 77 pre-engineering students who plan to finish their mechanical engineering degree at UW-Fox Valley in the UW-Platteville engineering program. There are 41 students in the mechanical engineering program, which graduated its first five students in December of 2005. The students range in age from 18 to 50 years and typically hold part-time or full-time jobs while attending late afternoon or evening courses. Many of them are technicians who hold associate degrees in engineering related fields from state technical colleges. Due to the strong support of local industry, UW-Platteville has also launched a collaborative electrical engineering degree at the UW-Fox Valley campus that began offering courses in the spring semester of 2006. The presence of undergraduate engineering education in the Fox Valley is a great benefit to area industry, students, and citizens.

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Sternhagen, M., & Hoerning, J., & Bronold, C. (2006, June), Two Year College Partners With Four Year University To Offer Evening Engineering Degrees Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--862