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Session 2663

First Graduates – The First Cycle In a New Manufacturing Engineering Program

William R. Peterson, Ph.D. Western Michigan University

Abstract

This paper chronicles the three and a half years of offering courses in a manufacturing engineering bachelor’s degree program and the first graduating class from this program. The program was designed to meet the specific needs of manufacturers in the western Michigan area where it is offered. The program - a joint effort of Western Michigan University, Muskegon Community College, and local industry - is offered exclusively at one of the university’s regional centers located on a community college campus. The efforts of the different partners during this time are reported, as are some of the lessons learned.

Background

In September of 1996 Western Michigan University (WMU), in partnership with Muskegon Community College (MCC) and industry in the Muskegon, Michigan region, began offering a bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering in its entirety, through on-site classes in Muskegon, Michigan. Muskegon is approximately 100 miles northwest of Kalamazoo, the location of the campus of WMU and where WMU traditionally offers its undergraduate engineering programs. MCC programs include arts and science associate degrees that are articulated with the state’s four-year colleges and universities and a variety of vocational and technical degrees utilizing state-of-the-art laboratory facilities (including drafting and CAD, machining, metallurgy, metrology, robotics and automation, and electronics).

Muskegon Community College (MCC) has a new 95,000 square foot building, the Higher Education Center (HEC), where three cooperating universities (including WMU) were to offer upper division and graduate courses. MCC was (and is) extremely interested in expanding the upper division offerings from cooperating universities to better utilize the new facility and to

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Peterson, W. (2000, June), First Graduates The First Cycle In A New Manufacturing Engineering Program At A Remote Location Paper presented at 2000 Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri. 10.18260/1-2--8384