Purdue-Vincennes agreement expands pathways to engineering careers for Southwestern Indiana students
A Purdue University agreement is continuing to extend the educational reach of the Purdue College of Engineering to students at Vincennes University.
The 2+2 Pathways to Vincennes program began with the fall 2017 semester and allows engineering students at the southwestern Indiana university who are pursuing their associate degree an opportunity for direct admissions to obtain their bachelor’s degree at Purdue.
The plan works toward maximizing education and degree completion opportunities for students.
Vincennes students are expected to complete their associate degree work to be eligible for direct admissions to Purdue.
Direct admission prerequisites such as grade point average and required courses differ among the 15 engineering programs in which students at Purdue can major. Students must adhere to the guidelines to be eligible for direct admissions.
The agreement follows the history of student success in pursuing education from Vincennes University to Purdue.
In announcing the program, former Purdue President Mitch Daniels said, “Growing the number of engineering graduates is one of our most important and strategic objectives at Purdue. Ensuring that the workforce in every corner of Indiana is meeting the needs of the region is a cornerstone of our land-grant mission.”
Lori Pence, associate director of student success at Purdue, has overseen the program since 2019. In her role, she spearheads efforts to provide a campus visit for prospective VU students and a welcome orientation program for the new VU transfer students to Purdue in August. She said that the annual fall welcome is a great opportunity for new VU transfer students to engage with current engineering students who transferred from VU the previous year.
“This networking opportunity provides the ability for the new VU transfer students to learn about how to be successful in the College of Engineering,” she said.
Other student success programming includes information on time management, how to study and career development.
Since fall 2019, the program has averaged between three to six VU students transferring under the direct admit articulation agreement each academic year. Average time to degree is four semesters with the addition of summer classes, and the average GPA is above a 3.0 with several students receiving semester honors.
“The students utilizing the direct admit agreement are from southern Indiana and a few from Crawford County, Illinois,” Pence said.
Around 60% of the graduates remain in Indiana, mostly in southern Indiana or Indianapolis, which meets the intention of the articulation agreement in educating more engineers from southern Indiana and the employers based there.
Christopher Garner, in his first year at Purdue, is majoring in civil engineering. He said that VU has designed their engineering program to mirror the course work at Purdue, so he is on track to achieve a bachelor’s degree. He chose civil engineering because he has always been fascinated by the things that make the world run, infrastructure and has a passion for building and problem solving.
“In middle school, I was fortunate enough to take an ‘engineering’ course, mostly introducing STEM concepts,” Garner said.
With his affinity for math and science, it has led him toward a career as a civil engineer. Upon graduation, Garner hopes to find employment in a local Indiana company to gain experience and licensure.
“I want to gain experience working on public projects for municipalities in hydraulics and hydrology and/or transportation and possibly transform that knowledge into becoming a municipal engineer for my native county," he said.
Corissa Reynolds, who will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in environmental and ecological engineering, found the transfer process very easy.
“The most helpful piece that made my transfer the smoothest was being able to stay in contact with my other peers who did the transfer program and having Lori help guide us through all things Purdue," she said.
She chose environmental and ecological engineering because she wants to "make our planet better for future generations, so they can enjoy everything I have."
Reynolds has been hired as an entry-level environmental engineer by August Mack, a nationally recognized, award-winning environmental consulting firm in Indianapolis. She said she wouldn’t be where she is today without the 2+2 program.
“When I wasn’t directly admitted to Purdue my freshman year, I no longer thought that I could be an engineer,” she said. “This program gave me a second chance. I was able to learn so much at Vincennes and now I am planning on taking my fundamentals of engineering exam in a few weeks to become an engineer in training. I will be forever thankful for this program and will always love the fact that I am both a trailblazer and Boilermaker.”