University News

A Decade of Engineering Excellence: WIU-QC School of Engineering Celebrates 10 Years

May 1, 2019

Share |
Printer friendly version

MOLINE, IL - - The Western Illinois University-Quad Cities School of Engineering will celebrate "A Decade of Engineering Excellence" Friday, May 3 at the WIU-QC Riverfront Hall 103/104.

The celebration schedule will include:

8-8:30 a.m. – Breakfast buffett
8:30-8:45 a.m. – Master of Ceremony and Senior Vice President for Strategic Planning and Initiatives Joe Rives will introduce President Jack Thomas and College of Business and Technology Interim Dean Jack Elfrink
8:45-9:05 a.m. – School of Engineering Director William Pratt, along with senior engineering majors Vanessa Haberman (Davenport, IA), C.J. Sissel (Walcott, IA), and Michael Berggren (Galesburg, IL), will speak about the program, where they came from, what they are doing and where they are going
9:05-9:15 a.m. – Donor Appreciation
9:15-9:25 a.m. – Paul Rumler, Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce
9:30-10:15 – Tours of the Additive Manufacturing Lab (room 118) and MakerSpace (room 133) will be given by Faculty Assistant in Engineering Technology Bill Bangel and his students; An Autonomous Vehicle Demonstration will be presented by Associate Professor Il-Seop Shin and his students.

"We started classes in August 2009 with six engineering students who had completed their general education and lower division courses at our partner schools, Black Hawk College and Eastern Iowa Community Colleges. They took a chance on a brand-new program and have become innovators and leaders in regional companies. The original ABET [Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology] accredited general Engineering program and the newly accredited mechanical engineering program have graduated almost 100 top performing engineers in our first 10 years," said Pratt.

"From our beginnings, we have worked closely and synergistically with the many engineering and manufacturing companies in the region to provide our engineering students with invaluable experiential learning in paid internships and real-world senior design projects," added Pratt. "This unique experience has benefited our students tremendously and resulted in an improved bottom line for the sponsoring companies. The combination of generous support from charitable foundations such as the Moline Foundation, the Deere Foundation and the Carver Trust, and the involvement of engineering professionals, mentors and the many companies involved in the training of our engineering students, has been gratifying to be a part of."

For more information on the School of Engineering, visit wiu.edu/cbt/qc/engineering.

Posted By: Alisha Looney (AA-Looney@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing