At its May 6 meeting, the Board of Trustees of Illinois State University gave authorization for the University to proceed with actions to formally establish the College of Engineering. The proposal for the College of Engineering was approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) in March 2022. The College will include two new academic departments: the Department of Electrical Engineering, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
The College of Engineering is designed with an equity lens to help close long-standing gaps in enrollment, retention, and graduation of underrepresented and underserved students in the engineering field. University officials are targeting the fall of 2025 for enrollment of the first class of an estimated 130 students, rising to reach 520 students by the fourth year.
Trustees authorized the University to begin the first phase of pre-construction services for the College of Engineering, which includes planning, design and production of the required documents to publicly bid the renovation of the John Green Building and the Carter Harris Administration Building; establishing a budget; and appointing architects, engineers and other necessary project consultants. Trustees approved expenditures not to exceed $3 million for that work.
