On February 9, three area community colleges (Southwest, Mountain Empire, and Virginia Highlands) entered into an agreement to form a new engineering program, The Southwest Virginia Engineering Consortium. The agreement allows the three colleges to share resources and faculty to better serve the region’s educational and engineering needs. The current articulation agreement between Virginia’s community colleges and Virginia Tech, guarantee admission to Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering for students completing an Engineering Associate Degree with a 3.2 GPA. Students from area community colleges have also successfully transferred from the three colleges’ engineering programs to several other area colleges and universities. The consortium will be headed by Brian Hale, SWCC’s engineering faculty member and program head, who has over 20 years of experience teaching engineering. MECC and VHCC will model their programs on SWCC’s long existing and successful engineering program. “Having the ability to complete your first two years of engineering education at the community college with all of the benefits of going to a community college, such as lower cost and more individualized instruction, make attending one of the member colleges a deal too good to pass up! A student is receiving the same instruction and, in some cases using the same textbooks, but with the added advantage of working on more unique projects in the freshmen year which would not be feasible in a large college or university setting.” said Brian Hale. “The area’s community colleges have been working collaboratively for a long time on health care programs such as nursing. We will build on their proven model to bring engineering education across all Southwest Virginia” said Robert Brandon Vice President of Academics and Student Services at SWCC. Space in the program is limited, so apply today to reserve your spot. For more information about the program and application process, contact Brian Hale at Brian.Hale@sw.edu or call (276) 964-7550