News Item

SAC and Texas A&M-Kingsville Address Engineering Education Gap

August 18, 2004

Today, San Antonio College and Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) officials announced an articulation agreement to help address the country's demand for well-trained engineers by smoothing the transfer process for students. In addition, details were announced about new junior-level TAMUK engineering courses to be offered at San Antonio College.

The agreement offers participating students joint admission at both institutions and includes the development of both lower- and upper-division courses to be available to San Antonio College engineering students. New junior-level courses will be offered in Thermodynamics and Chemical and Natural Gas Engineering Thermodynamics I (combined as one course for students studying Mechanical or Chemical and Natural Gas Engineering), and Fluid Transport Phenomena.

"We are excited about this new partnership, which will make it easier for San Antonio College engineering students to continue their studies at Texas A&M University-Kingsville so they will be prepared for this critical field," said Dr. Robert E. Zeigler, President of San Antonio College.

Dr. Rumaldo Z. Juarez, Texas A&M University-Kingsville President, said, "This agreement reaffirms TAMUK's commitment to the State's Plan of Closing the Gaps in higher education by linking one of the state's top quality engineering programs with one the largest and highly respected community colleges in the state . . . The students from San Antonio College will have an opportunity to join the ranks of professional engineers in a very cost-effective manner."

San Antonio College currently offers a $2,000 META (Math, Engineering and Technology Award) scholarship for qualified students majoring in math, engineering, computer science, or science, funded by the National Science Foundation.

"This is an excellent opportunity for our students, who will receive a solid foundation for high-tech engineering fields," said Dr. Dan Dimitriu, Coordinator of Engineering at San Antonio College. He added, "At San Antonio College, we provide strong support for students to succeed, and this partnership with Texas A&M University-Kingsville will help insure our students will attain that success in engineering."

Dr. William Heenan, Dean of the Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering at TAMUK, said, "This MOU between San Antonio College and Texas A&M University-Kingsville goes beyond the traditional 2+2 program. Through this agreement, faculty from TAMUK will teach some of the lower division engineering courses that are not taught by SAC's faculty and will also teach junior level engineering courses as well." As a result, Heenan said students will develop more confidence and make an easier transition to TAMUK, which benefits both students and society.

In 1992, San Antonio College also signed an articulation agreement to help engineering students transfer to UTSA. In addition, SAC's summer EDGE program prepares 10th and 11th grade high school students for college-level work. These efforts, in addition to today's agreement with Texas A&M-Kingsville, address the national engineering education gap: engineering degrees nationally dropped 20 percent from 1986 to1999, and only 15 percent of high school graduates are prepared to enroll in engineering programs. (See "The ABCs of Engineering," by Linda Creighton, at http://www.prism-magazine.org/nov02/abc.cfm.)

For more information about the Engineering Program and the articulation agreement, contact Dr. Dan Dimitriu, Engineering Coordinator, at 210/785-6049.