ETSU and Tennessee Technological University’s new joint Bachelor of Science in Engineering program will begin enrolling students this fall.
The program, the only one in the state of Tennessee, will confer a BSE in General Engineering to students on completion at both campuses. Neither university has offered this program before.
In a press release, Dennis Depew, dean of the College of Business and Technology, said, “This degree will fill a need expressed by local businesses, as well as a desire for an engineering program among prospective students.”
Both universities have been working on this program for years in response to the Complete College TN Act of 2010. The act aimed to make Tennessee state universities pool resources to make more programs available across the entire state.
“So what we’re doing with this program is we’re sharing faculty and resources from TTU, we’re sharing faculty and resources from ETSU and bringing them together,” said Paul Sims, a professor in the ETSU Department of Engineering Technology. “As a bridge, we’re using our new distance-ed capabilities with real-time, synchronous classrooms to make it function.”
TTU was chosen as a partner for this program due to its relative proximity, similarity in administration and identical schedule, because both universities are members of the Tennessee Board of Regents.
The program will offer on-site faculty classes and labs and distance classes with faculty from TTU. Students will study one of three core areas: civil, mechanical or electrical engineering.
“A typical student will see most of their general studies completed here,” Sims said. “Then they’ll have about half of their classes in the engineering area real-time in the department, and remote faculty for the other half. Same for Tennessee Tech.”
Students enrolled will pay their normal tuition to the university they attend, as well as a $60 fee per credit hour for engineering courses.
