Engineering And Science Institute: An Innovative Partnership To Provide Seamless Undergraduate Education

WSU Vancouver was established in 1989 and was mandated by the Legislature to provide upper division and graduate education. Undergraduate students transfer to WSU Vancouver following a 2+2 model where the lower division coursework is often completed at a local community college. An extensive survey of high school students in the service region of the university indicated that the engineering and science students are least likely to utilize the 2+2 transfer option. In response to these findings, the WSU Vancouver Engineering and Science Institute was conceived as a way to provide a seamless four-year experience. In this unique model, faculty from two partnering community colleges moved to the WSU Vancouver campus to provide the lower division curricula in Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science and Biology. The lower division courses were re-designed to create seamless four-year programs offered by the three institutions on the university campus. This paper describes the Institute and highlights its unique aspects as a model that can be adapted in other states. The detailed development of the ME curriculum is used as the example of how the partnership process worked over the past two years to create a unique program.