Colorado Mesa University and CU Boulder announced the expansion of their engineering program partnership to allow students to earn a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from CU Boulder by taking classes delivered at Colorado Mesa.
Until now, the partnership – which launched in 2008 – allowed students to earn a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from CU Boulder by taking classes delivered at Colorado Mesa. The new CMU-CU Civil Engineering Program begins this fall and students have already begun to enroll in the necessary classes.
“We are very pleased to partner with CU Boulder to give students the opportunity to earn civil engineering degrees while taking all their classes at CMU,” said CMU President Tim Foster. “The mechanical engineering program offered jointly has been quite successful and the addition of civil engineering will be a benefit to Western Slope students and to employers trying to meet the regional need for civil engineers.”
CU Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science Dean Robert H. Davis said civil engineering promises to be a welcome addition.
“We are delighted to see the second phase of this innovative partnership come to fruition,” Davis said. “Civil engineers play an important role in a community’s quality of life, and CU Boulder is excited to help meet the demand for these engineers on the Western Slope.”
A recent CMU survey of businesses and agencies in western Colorado that hire or work with civil engineers showed that 61.5 percent of the 78 respondents think there is a moderate to high demand for civil engineering graduates in western Colorado. More than half of them said they are interested in hiring students for full-time summer work and more than 40 percent said they are interested in hiring civil engineering graduates.
Modeled after the CMU-CU Mechanical Engineering Program, students will receive CMU instruction and classes for the first two years and then primarily CU Boulder coursework for their final two years.
By sharing costs and faculty and collaborating on laboratory and technology needs for this rigorous and demanding program, CMU and CU Boulder will be better able to prepare top-tier engineers ready for work in a variety of different applied professional fields.
