The University of West Florida is debuting a new civil engineering degree program in the fall semester that will serve as a direct pipeline connecting students to local jobs.
Demand for civil engineers in Northwest Florida is projected to grow by 13% by 2031, almost double the projected national demand, prompting UWF to create the program to address the workforce needs of local companies while putting students on a path to success right after finishing college.
UWF plans to offer flexible course options and access to state-of-the-art facilities at both its Pensacola campus and its Emerald Coast campus in Fort Walton Beach.
The Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degree will be housed within the newly established Department of Civil Engineering and Construction Management, and its curriculum was formed with input from local companies, many of whom also endorsed the program’s creation through letters of support.
“The creation of the civil engineering (program) is truly in direct response to both students and local companies who’ve been asking now for a long time for the creation of such a program,” said Mohamed Khabou, dean of the Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering. “We have prepared the labs and equipment to emphasize those areas of need for the region.”
UWF projects that graduates of the civil engineering program will be well-positioned for careers in various engineering sectors including infrastructure, residential and nonresidential construction, as well as maintenance, transportation, environmental remediation and hydrology.
Faculty will encourage students to explore the various disciplines of the engineering field, while offering personalized attention through a one-on-one interaction model.
“Most of us, those who will be teaching as faculty, have real world experience,” said M.A. Karim, the founding chair of the program and one of its professors who has over 30 years of experience in the industry. “We can speak directly about it, so this kind of experience will definitely translate to people.”
Karim is expecting similar levels of support for the civil engineering program as the construction management program received. The five-year goal of the department, according to Karim, is to have at least 250 to 300 students in the program.
“Over the next five years, they shouldn’t have trouble finding a job here,” he said. “They will go into their society and work for their society.”
Khabou said that during his time as chair for the electrical engineering department at UWF, every couple of weeks he would get emails from both active and prospective students asking whether they offer a civil engineering program.
When pitching the program, Khabou received multiple letters of support from local companies to endorse its need. Staff also did a survey on the needs of local companies, which revealed the occupational demand for people working in structural, environmental, water resources and transportation is high.
Staff will keep tabs on the latest industry trends in technology and research, and Khabou says the program will update its lab equipment and curriculum by integrating those findings.
“We want (the program) to be customized so that our students have the greatest potential of securing jobs here, locally, like what we’re doing with our other engineering graduates,” Khabou said. “A vast majority of our graduates in those programs will find jobs in Northwest Florida and in the state of Florida. That was by design, and we are planning to do the same for our civil engineering program. We truly want our graduates to be a great fit for whatever job opportunities exist here.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: UWF’s new civil engineering program coming to Fort Walton Beach to increase workforce
Reporting by Edward Bunch III, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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