UMaine Creates Dual Degree in Engineering, Liberal Arts and Sciences
Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571
ORONO — The University of Maine’s College of Engineering and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences have teamed up to offer a formal dual-degree program, in which students can graduate in five years with degrees from each college.
“Combining an engineering degree with a liberal arts degree gives students the technical skills and broad perspective they need to be extremely successful in addressing the world’s most pressing problems, including energy, environmental stewardship and managing our nation’s infrastructure,” says Dana Humphrey, dean of the College of Engineering.
Beginning in fall 2009, this on-campus partnership will allow students to stay in Orono and follow a formal course of study that integrates engineering and liberal arts coursework through all five years. Students will have an adviser in each college.
The dual degree program makes it possible for students to major in virtually any engineering program and obtain a liberal arts degree of their choosing in five years. Already, the colleges have created curricula for civil engineering and a variety of liberal arts majors — English, philosophy, economics, as well as French, German or Spanish — the latter are an ideal fit for students interested in working for an engineering firm that conducts business on an international level. Additional engineering-liberal arts combinations will be in place by the start of the fall semester.
“This will help students think differently about the engineering skills they develop and how they might be used toward broader goals, a broader context than they might otherwise,” says Jeffrey Hecker, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “They really are getting the best of both worlds.”
UMaine currently offers a three-plus-two dual-degree program with Bowdoin College in Brunswick — students in that program spend three years at Bowdoin and two years at UMaine.
“Initiatives like these demonstrate UMaine’s responsiveness to student needs and our commitment to educating people who can contribute to our businesses and communities in meaningful ways,” says UMaine President Robert Kennedy. “Students in these programs will graduate well-prepared for excellent careers, truly educated and prepared to have an immediate, positive impact.