February 10, 2023
ASU Board Approves New Mechanical Engineering DegreeBy Kenneth Mullinax/ASUAlabama State University's Board of Trustees (BOT) approved a new bachelor's degree program for Mechanical Engineering during its Feb. 3 meeting. The plan is for the degree to be offered at the University in the Fall of 2024, pending approval by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education.Dr. Derrick Dean, director of the University's Biomedical Engineering program, has helped to develop the new undergraduate degree program at the behest of President Quinton T. Ross, Jr. Dean believes that the program will allow ASU students to earn a high-demand degree and will serve as a gateway for careers across a number of fields."The newly approved ASU Mechanical Engineering Degree fits the profile of what many businesses and industries across the nation need from potential employees," Dean said. "The University has received a lot of contact throughout the past few years from many different professionals representing many companies in the state, especially those within the automotive industry."DEGREE HELPS OUR STUDENTS AND ENHANCES DIVERSITYThe president of the University's Board of Trustees, Brenda Brown Dillard, explained that according to national job force data, currently only four-percent of the total number of engineers in the United States are African-American."As a historically black university, the members of our Board believe that this degree not only will allow us to help advance our students into a burgeoning career field that is full of exciting opportunities, but in so doing, it will additionally help diversify the nation's engineering workforce," Dillard said. "Years from now, we will see how the approval of this degree opened up new doors for our students who obtained this valuable degree and allowed Alabama State University to continue its mission of fostering inclusiveness and opportunity to the members of our community."News media contact: Kenneth Mullinax, 334-229-4104.###ASU###