When the University started the Engineering program in the fall of 2003 there were only 18 students. Throughout the years enrollment has surpassed expectations and the current enrollment as of this fall is 434 students.“[The Engineering Program] is growing by leaps and bounds. We need this,” said Rhonda Dittfurth, outreach coordinator for the Department of Engineering and Computer Science, about the move into the new building.
The renovation of the 40,000 square foot facility will house classrooms, lab rooms and faculty offices which the department needs.
“As of now we are at capacity,” Dittfurth said.
The Engineering building was built in 1965 for the Industrial Technology Department. The lack of space has stopped the process of hiring new professors for the program because there is no room for new faculty offices. It has also affected the students.
“The classrooms are pretty crammed with stuff and students,” Rodney Morgan, an Engineering major at WT, said. The Nursing Program is splitting the already tight space with Engineering, as well.
Dittfurth said there are only four classrooms that the department is getting to work with that are located in the Engineering building, but there are classes being held in the Classroom Center and in the Chase Tower in Amarillo.
“Our main thing is getting [the department] into the same building,” she said. “That is going to be best for [the students].”
The innovation is split into two phases. Phase one will equip the first floor with five laboratories, one smart classroom, a shop and faculty offices.
“The new engineering building is going to be so close to the science building, which is good because we use their facility too,” Morgan said.
Currently the engineering program is located on the North side of Russell Long Boulevard.
“I didn’t even know where the engineering building was,” Rebecca Peth, a Biology major at WT, said. “I have never been over there, and we are both in the same College.”
The second phase of the innovation is projected to be started in 2012 and will fully complete the project and provide the two story building with four design studios, seven smart classrooms and more faculty offices. The project is estimated at $8 million.
