Letter from the Chairman
The growth in our undergraduate enrollment continued as in previous years and our
undergraduate class this fall has 264 students—almost double the enrollment in 1996.
We have been successful in recruiting our own graduates as well as internationally
to increase our enrollment in the graduate program. We currently have 23 PhD, and
36 Masters, 37 are enrolled as full-time students and 22 are enrolled in our distance
learning program. Last year, we graduated 7 Doctoral, 3 Masters and 42 Bachelor
students and our graduates have been receiving multiple competitive offers.
Through our distance learning program, APOGEE, two of our Master’s degree students
were able to continue their studies while being deployed. One of these students
defended prior to leaving for Iraq and finished coursework while overseas fighting
for our country. Thanks to advanced technology, these students were able to view
classes through video-streaming, submit homework and stay on schedule as if they
were here attending their classes. Recently I accepted the position of Associate
Dean of International Programs and Continuing Education within the College of Engineering
and Computing and I foresee many collaborative opportunities to expand this program.
Several faculty members and researchers from Australia, Pakistan, China, Egypt and
India visited the department, varying from a few days to a few months, to participate
in the ongoing research and to work with the departmental faculty.
We had three vacant faculty positions due to two retirements and a resignation.
We have been successful in attracting Dr. Goodall as an Assistant Professor in Water
Resources while search for a senior faculty member in Structural Engineering and
another in Transportation Engineering continuing.
Dr. Hugh Bradburn, although retired, continues to teach one course each semester
and was recently awarded the ASCE South Carolina Section Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dr. John Dickerson also continues to contribute countless hours in providing assistance
to faculty and graduate students with their research. We are really appreciative
of their time and effort and their continued contributions to the mission of the
department.
