Establishing a Win-Win Partnership between a University and Non-Metropolitan Community Colleges

In 2008-09, the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering carried out a pilot program with three nonmetropolitan community colleges (CCs) to develop a win-win partnership that would produce more engineering and computer science students. This pilot program was followed with the award of a five-year National Science Foundation STEP grant starting in fall 2009. In this program, two additional non-metropolitan CCs were included. This paper will describe the major accomplishments of this program as well as major lessons learned. These accomplishments include that all five CC schools now have engineering programs; one school encouraged students to select a major and as a result, the number of engineering majors has grown substantially; Associate Degrees in Science or Engineering has been added by some schools which more closely follow the first two years of an engineering program and thus facilitates transfer; and an engineering or computer science “curriculum pathway” is being instituted to better advise CC students who wish to earn a Bachelor’s degree in these majors. The challenges will also be discussed.