A New Bachelors’s Program In Motorsports Technology

At the 2007 ASEE Conference the author described a BS program in Motorsports Technology being developed by Old Dominion University (ODU). The program was being developed to be delivered on-site in Martinsville, VA in conjunction with Patrick Henry Community College (PHCC) who offers a complimentary associate degree program and the recently established New College Institute (NCI) in Martinsville. The paper reported the progress of the development stage. This paper presents the progress made toward offering of the program in the Martinsville site. The promised funding was achieved and a contract signed the spring of 2007 between Old Dominion University and the New College Institute. A search was performed and a program coordinator was hired in the summer of 2007, who is now on site in Martinsville. These first few months the coordinator has been working with the ODU Department of Engineering Technology chair, the Dean of Applied Science and Engineering Technology at Patrick Henry Community College and the director of the New College Institute on establishing an office at PHCC and in establishing a strategic marketing plan to advertise the program and recruit students for courses beginning in the Spring 2008 semester. The curriculum and articulation with PHCC are being more finely tuned, as well as articulation with other associate degree engineering technology programs for entry into the upper level program offered by ODU. This paper will present the progress made in establishing the program, developing marketing tools, and articulating the program with other associate degree programs.