While official student numbers are not available for a month, Oregon Tech’s student body continues to grow in diversity – geography, age, and ethnicity for example – just as its programs are growing and changing to meet the demands of students and the workforce in Oregon and the Northwest.
The 2017-18 academic year promises to be a trailblazing one as Oregon Tech experienced great success this legislative season with approval for $40 million in state bonding authority for its Center for Excellence in Engineering and Technology (CEET) on its Klamath Falls campus, which will be matched by $2 million in university investment and donations. Designed as an integrated facility with the existing Cornett Hall, this new building will allow for the consolidation and expansions of the critical functions of the College of Engineering, Technology and Management. Also building upon last year’s successes, Oregon Tech moved forward as a partner and host of the Oregon Manufacturing Innovation Center, which will be an industry/higher education model of advancing regional manufacturing through industry-relevant research and development with universities, and community college training and apprenticeship programs.
The university also continues with collaboration on the Rural Health Partnership (RHP) with Sky Lakes Medical Center and Oregon Health & Science University. As a strategic partnership, the RHP will accelerate the education of inter-disciplinary teams of emerging rural health professionals, provide opportunities for health occupations’ students to practice in rural settings, and gain benefits for our students from shared clinical space and faculty expertise.
New degree programs continue to be launched to serve a variety of student interests, such as a Bachelor of Science in Professional Writing slated to begin enrolling in winter. The university is furthermore expanding graduate programs with a Master of Science in Engineering offered in Wilsonville which allows for multiple specialties typically not available in the classical engineering MS degrees.
Dr. Naganathan said, “Besides the high-potential partnerships and initiatives underway, Oregon Tech has a solid foundation of assets that take us forward, including a record number of degrees awarded over the past year; top ranking in online programs, and continued high marks from external reviewers of the value that our in-demand degrees provide to our graduates, and to the industries and organizations who hire them. Our graduates now have the highest ROI in the state, as marked by national ranking organizations, with average starting salaries now in excess of $56,000, and with a 95% success rate of graduates being employed or in graduate school within six months of earning their degree. We look forward to another year of great success.”
About Oregon Tech
Founded in Klamath Falls in 1947, Oregon Institute of Technology is the premier public polytechnic institution in the Pacific Northwest. Oregon Tech provides bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in engineering, health technologies, business, technology, communication, and applied sciences that prepare students to be effective participants in their professional, public, and international communities through applied, relevant learning and professional practice. Oregon Tech has a full-service, residential campus in Klamath Falls; an urban, industry-focused campus in Wilsonville; an Online campus; and offers degrees at Boeing Seattle and at other sites. Visit www.oit.edu to learn more about Oregon Institute of Technology.
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