SDSU second among fastest growing engineering schools
The College of Engineering at South Dakota State University is second among the nation’s best in terms of growing its undergraduate program.
According to the March 2010 issue of Prism Magazine, the flagship publication of the American Society for Engineering Education, SDSU ranks second in growth in the number of engineering bachelor’s degrees awarded with an 82 percent growth rate from 2005 to 2008. To qualify, schools needed at least 75 graduates in 2005 and 215 schools met the criteria.
The magazine conducted its first study in 2000 and has done one every two years. From 2000 to 2008, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering increased 16, 29 and 51 percent, respectively, across the country.
The national rise in engineering degrees is no more evident than at SDSU, where the college has seen significant enrollment increase during each of the last six years, according to Lewis Brown, dean of the College of Engineering. Brown said that since 2003, College of Engineering enrollment grew by nearly 30 percent compared to 15.5 percent for the rest of the SDSU campus.
“This growth is a tribute to many factors,” Brown says. “Our new and improved facilities and growth in scholarships have greatly enhanced our recruitment efforts.
“We are very grateful for the private support of our friends who have made that possible,” Brown adds. “The ASEE numbers confirm that SDSU is an exciting and rewarding place to study engineering. The results show our strategic plan for student recruitment and retention is working.”
Assistant Dean Rich Reid says the data is particularly impressive considering that during 2000-06, South Dakota showed a 6.1 percent decline in high school enrollment, while other states on the Top Ten list had increases of 13.7 to 15.2 percent during the same time period.
“Even though we have declining high school enrollments, more high school students are staying in the state and are coming to SDSU to study engineering,” Reid says. “We are thankful for the support of alumni, donors, the SDSU Foundation, and business and industry partners who have a vital role in supporting our programs and students.
“The significant growth in our research, new engineering buildings, K-12 outreach programs, increased scholarships, the work of our admission’s office and personal contact with students have created an environment where success happens,” Reid adds.
SDSU’s growth rate, based on going from 89 undergraduate degrees in 2005 to 162 in 2008, is topped only by California State University of Northridge at 96 percent.
Jim Morgan, president and CEO of Daktronics, says the report is testament to progress SDSU's engineering program is making.
Jim Morgan, president and CEO of Daktronics, says, “This report is further testimonial to the great job the administration and faculty have been doing, along with the financial support for facilities and scholarships from the SDSU Foundation, to continue to build and improve the profile of SDSU’s engineering program.
“The underlying statistics show that not only has the SDSU engineering program grown, it has improved qualitatively in many ways,” adds Morgan, who earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1969 and a master’s degree in engineering in 1971, both from SDSU. “This is impressive progress.”
At the same time, the College of Engineering reports that the number of its applicants with ACT scores above 30 (top 4 percent in the nation) has more than tripled from 20 in 2005 to 61 in 2010.
“The best and brightest students are coming to the College of Engineering,” cites Reid, who points out that students with ACT scores above 30 are students who have outscored 96 percent of students in the nation.
“Earlier this decade we had about 20 students in the 30-point ACT range applying to our engineering program,” he says. “With 61 having ACT scores of 30 this year, along with an incoming class of about 400 freshmen, we know a high percentage of this class will be some of the best young minds in our state.”
The American Society for Engineering Education is a non-profit association of more than 12,000 engineering faculty members, U.S. colleges of engineering, engineering technology corporations, and other organizations dedicated to promoting excellence in engineering and engineering technology education.