Camarillo, Calif., July 6, 2016— After years of work and planning, CSU Channel Islands (CI) is announcing the launch of its own Engineering Program.
President Richard R. Rush and Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D—Thousand Oaks) will make the formal announcement on July 20 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Sierra Hall on the CI campus.
“We could not be more proud to announce the addition of an engineering program at CI,” said President Richard R. Rush. “This University exists to serve the needs of the surrounding community, and now CI can deliver quality graduates to fill hundreds of engineering jobs available each year in Ventura County. On a personal note, I consider it privilege to welcome this long-anticipated program before my last day as President of this University.”
Rush, who retires on Aug. 8, worked with Irwin as she sought support in Sacramento.
Locally, Rush met with community leaders who stressed the need for an engineering program in Ventura County.
After Irwin was elected in 2014, the two began laying the groundwork to meet that need.
In 2012, University officials conducted a needs assessment study and discovered that about half of Ventura County companies planned to hire engineers. In addition, the state Employment Development Department indicated that almost 300 new engineers are needed any given year in Ventura County.
“I really pushed it last year in the Assembly,” Irwin said. “I was able to talk to budget chairs about the need in Ventura County. We have a military base and all of these companies in need of qualified engineers. But what really made the argument is that Channel Islands is heavily female and has a significant Latino population and both of those groups are under-represented in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields.”
In May of 2015, Irwin proposed that $1.5 million be allocated with roughly $500,000 per year used to cover three years of start-up costs, such as hiring faculty members and lab support. In June, the state legislature approved the use of $500,000 in the $117.2 billion state budget for CI to begin its engineering program.