The two-year pre-engineering program at the University of Guam will evolve into a four-year Bachelor of Science in Civil-Engineering program starting in Fanuchånan (Fall) 2019, following approval from the Board of Regents yesterday.

“The availability of an engineering degree here in Guam will meet growing demand among prospective students as well as a chronic need for engineers in the workforce in Guam and the Western Pacific,” said Shahram Khosrowpanah, dean of the School of Engineering.

 

Enrollment in the program continues to increase, he said, with an almost 20% increase over the course of last semester. As of December, the program has 159 declared pre-engineering majors.

“We are excited to now be realizing what was originally the vision of President Emeritus Robert Underwood in 2009 — a four-year accredited engineering degree program at UOG,” said UOG President Thomas W. Krise. “Our School of Engineering is the only engineering program in the Western Pacific, and we are proud that students can now not only start, but finish, a first-class engineering program close to home.”

Since the program’s launch in 1989, pre-engineering students have completed coursework at UOG for two years with the goal of then being admitted to a four-year engineering school. UOG has cooperative agreements with the University of Iowa and the Mapua Institute of Technology in the Philippines, which are both accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Graduating from an ABET accredited school is a requirement to take the professional engineering exam and become licensed.

Now, civil engineering students can earn a four-year degree at UOG, while students pursuing other engineering fields can still avail of the two-year pre-engineering program in preparation for another school. In the future, Khosrowpanah said the goal is to expand UOG’s engineering program to offer other fields of engineering needed in Guam and the region.

UOG’s School of Engineering is following requirements for its four-year program to become ABET accredited and is designing the program’s facilities and course materials in accordance with ABET standards.

The school will operate in a new 16,000-square-foot building located next to the Agriculture and Life Sciences building on campus. The $5.4 million structure was designed by David Hurchanik Architect LLC and is being constructed by Bascon Corp., with completion expected in February 2020. It will include three classrooms; hydraulics, soil and structure, and environmental engineering laboratories; a computer lab; and faculty office space.

The school has six full-time and one part-time faculty with expertise in each of the basic civil and environmental engineering fields.

The first two students to earn a Bachelor of Science in Civil-Engineering from the University of Guam are set to graduate in 2020.