On September 3, 2019, Henry Saunders introduced our speaker Dana Humphrey, Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Maine and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Dean Humphrey is also Saunders Professor of Engineering Leadership and ManagementDana spoke of the strong job growth in engineering positions - 25% from 2006 to 2017. He also spoke of the need to increase the capacity to educate engineers in our state. 27% of Maine engineers are now 55 or older. Over the next 10 years it is projected that the state will need to produce 3190 engineering graduates to fill the projected new positions and replace retirees. Although the number of graduates has grown 70% since 2001, at the current graduation rate, only 1600 engineering graduates would be available.
One component of increasing graduation capacity is to add faculty. In the past three years, the University has added 21 positions across engineering disciplines. Another component is adding physical capacity – office space, classroom space, lab space, student meeting rooms, rooms for collaboration, student project design suites.
The final piece is to attract students. The University of Maine College of Engineering has an excellent yield rate. Historically 50% of students who come to campus for a tour end up attending the college. To support all of these pieces needed for growth, the Engineering Education Design Center (EEDC) is “a building for Maine’s future.”
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The EEDC includes all of the elements noted above - offices for faculty, classrooms, meeting rooms, laboratory space, and collaborative spaces for student projects. It also includes bright, open common spaces and a Campus Welcome and STEM Outreach Center. All campus tours will begin from this location.
Planning for the EEDC is nearing the construction stage. The detailed design was completed in May and construction documents should be complete in late 2019. Ground breaking is slated for spring 2020, with spring 2022 ribbon cutting and fall 2022 welcoming of the first students.
The projected cost is $75-77M. As of our meeting, $66M had been raised, enough for the project to move forward. This includes $43M from the State of Maine with the rest coming from 350 private donors to date. If you are interested in helping the college raise the remaining amount, please contact Patricia Cummings, Senior Director of Philanthropy at The University of Maine Foundation, 207-581-1155 or 800-982-8503, patricia.cummings@maine.edu
L-R: Owens McCullough, Hal Thomas, Dean Humphrey,
Dave Rolfe, Henry Saunders, Christine Johnson,
Woody Beach