EPCC and UTEP announce new engineering partnership

EL PASO, TX (KVIA) -- El Paso Community College and UTEP announced a new engineering partnership this morning.

The announcement was made during a press conference with EPCC President Dr. William Serrata and UTEP President Dr. Heather Wilson speaking.

The partnership allows EPCC engineering students to take classes at both EPCC and UTEP, giving them the chance to earn their associates degree and their bachelors degree at the same time.

The first initial cohort of the program begins this semester with 13 students. They include eight mechanical engineering students, two aerospace engineering students, one industrial engineering student, one electrical engineering student, and and one computer science engineering student.

ABC-7 spoke with Ken Miessner, UTEP's Dean of Engineering, who said that this program opens up opportunities for students to get into one of the most critical fields in both the region and the country.

"Some of the hands on opportunities like undergraduate research and, competitive teams giving EPCC students the opportunity to do that through this dual enrollment is really, I think, going to pave the way for many more students to be able to explore their passions in engineering."

EPCC's Dean of Architecture, Art, Math, and Science Rebecca Escamilla was also at the press conference.

She says that the program is important to get students into great education much earlier than they normally would.

"A lot of our students don't get the opportunities that they typically would see, until maybe their junior or senior year. We're trying to give them those opportunities at a very early start in their educational pathway to help them see that engineering is definitely the field that they want to be in."

If you are a student who is interested in joining the Engineering Academy, you can find an interest form linked here.