UWM, WCTC: More engineering degrees expected from new UWM-WCTC agreements

MILWAUKEE – To generate more four-year university engineering degrees in Southeastern Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UWM) and the Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) have expanded on their existing academic articulation agreements to create two new credit-transfer programs for electrical and mechanical engineering.

Through one program, WCTC students who have successfully completed the two-year Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree in Electrical Engineering Technology will now be granted junior status in the UWM College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) and be guaranteed admission to the Electrical Engineering major. A second program guarantees admission to the UWM CEAS Mechanical Engineering major for WCTC students who have successfully completed the Mechanical Engineering Technology A.A.S.

“We are excited about this articulation agreement, which is part of our strategy to build a pipeline of qualified science, technology, engineering and mathematics students,” said UWM CEAS Dean Michael J. Lovell. “We look forward to enhancing our partnership with WCTC.”

“We know that Waukesha County, along with the rest of Southeastern Wisconsin, needs more four-year degree holders – particularly in engineering. This is another very positive advancement in that direction,” said UWM Chancellor Carlos E. Santiago. “If we are able to move forward with our plans to expand our engineering college and create a research park on the Milwaukee County Grounds, then the value of this program could grow exponentially in coming years.”

“This is a great example of the kind of cooperation between educational institutions that our students and employers have encouraged,” said WCTC President Barbara Prindiville. “WCTC engineering students are qualified to gain an entry-level position in their industry upon graduation, but now they can also transfer their credits to one of the premier public engineering programs in the state without duplicating their prior educational efforts.”

This is the first engineering-related agreement between the two institutions that brings in students to UWM in their junior year. It replaces less-extensive articulation agreements between UWM and WCTC, and marks the continuing partnership between UWM and WCTC to ensure a seamless-as-possible transition between programs.

Faculty and advisers from both institutions – with detailed knowledge of course outcomes at WCTC and prerequisite expectations for student success in courses at UWM – worked together to create the new agreement. The curriculum at WCTC has been designed to enable student success upon transfer, and the UWM engineering faculty fully value the skills and general knowledge students will bring from their first two years.

The new agreements specify, on a course-by-course basis, which credits are eligible for transfer. Students must have earned the WCTC A.A.S. degree in fall 2008 or later with a minimum grade point average of 2.75 in all math, science and engineering courses. Other specific requirements exist, and students will be expected to coordinate program transfer through their academic advisers.

###

(CONTACT: Tom Luljak at UWM, 414-229-4035 or Anne Moore at WCTC, 262-691-5500.)