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MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (June 15, 2016) – Eastman Foundation has made a $250,000 commitment to Milligan College’s new engineering program. Milligan President Dr. Bill Greer announced this morning the college would be adding the Eastman name to its mechanical engineering design lab.
“Eastman has been incredibly supportive in the development and launching of our engineering program, and this gift and partnership is tremendous,” said Greer. “We look forward to the day when we will see interns, co-op students, and professional engineers from Milligan working at Eastman.”
Milligan’s engineering program is a four-year program offered from the Milligan campus in Northeast Tennessee. It is the only such program within a two-hour radius of the Tri-Cities.
With mechanical and electrical engineering majors, Milligan’s program is designed to offer a well-rounded, competitive engineering education in the context of the Christian liberal arts.
“I applaud Milligan for coming up with an approach uniquely designed to incorporate various disciplines of learning in a way that will produce problem solvers, innovators, and thinkers with expertise in their particular field of engineering. Milligan has a history of producing well-balanced, successful graduates, and we look forward to continuing to work with them as they bring innovative solutions to the world’s problems,” said David Golden, senior vice president, chief legal and sustainability officer and corporate secretary at Eastman. Golden also serves as the President of the Eastman Foundation.
“Milligan produces service-minded scholars who also make quality employees. The Milligan engineering program will be a resource for recruiting these types of individuals in engineering roles,” said Mark Cox, senior vice president, chief manufacturing, supply chain, and engineering officer at Eastman. Cox said he has been impressed with the program’s curriculum, new facilities, and the faculty being assembled to lead and instruct students.
Program director Greg Harrell is a University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech grad who serves as the lead technical advisor for the United Nations and the U.S. Department of Energy. Last month the college announced West Point professor and Navy veteran David Hampton would join the engineering faculty in Fall 2017.
Milligan’s engineering program starts in August and will have 100 students when fully enrolled.
“Now more than ever, our world needs young leaders who are strong in the science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) disciplines,” said Greer. “Milligan is well-positioned to meet this need by educating men and women who have dedicated their lives to service through their understanding of the application of science to improving the human condition.”
The Milligan engineering majors have been reviewed and approved by the college’s regional accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). Milligan also will seek accreditation from ABET, whose accreditation standards the college’s engineering program has been designed to meet. In addition, Milligan’s engineering faculty are experienced and seasoned academicians who have been core faculty members in ABET-accredited programs. Local industry leaders already are endorsing the program and ready to offer internships and co-ops, as well as hire Milligan engineering graduates. More information on ABET accreditation can be found on the ABET web site at www.abet.org.