A First Class Feat Of Engineering

Four-Year-Old Program Graduates Initial Students

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Posted: May 7, 2012
By CANDACE SIPOS

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Engineering honors graduate Christina DiMarino (right) chats with Ronald Kander, founder of the engineering program at JMU, after graduates received their degrees on Saturday. (Photo by Michael Reilly)

HARRISONBURG — Leah Haling and Dan Wolfe had no idea what they were getting into when they became two of the first engineering students at James Madison University four years ago.

They decided to give the budding program a try, and on Saturday were two of the 45 students who walked across the stage at the School of Engineering’s first graduation.

“There have been some ups and downs,” Haling, of Arlington, said. “[But] I wouldn’t trade [my decision to go to JMU] for the world.”

The two were taking pictures in a group after the ceremony, donning their black robes with splashes of orange and yellow.

Both said the small size of the engineering department — which Wolfe, of Midlothian, called a “breath of fresh air” — was a bonus.

Studying as a relatively small group of students with similar interests, the class quickly became a family.

“We’ll stay friends for life, that’s for sure,” Haling said.

But the school is growing quickly, with 150 students in the freshman class this year, according to Ronald Kander, who founded the program.

During the planning stages of the program, people wondered whether it could attract even 50 students a year, he added.

Kander now serves as executive dean of Philadelphia University’s College of Design, Engineering and Commerce, but he made the trip to Harrisonburg for his brainchild’s first graduation.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” he said. “I’ve been waiting for this for years.”

As the head of JMU’s Department of Integrated Science and Technology in 2005, Kander started thinking about the possibility of adding an engineering school.

With the help of Douglas Brown, provost and vice president for academic affairs at the time, a committee created a “really compelling” curriculum that “trains engineers for the jobs that don’t even exist yet,” he said.

The program focuses on sustainability, teaching students not only technical skills, but also how to consider the effects — environmental, social, technical and economic — their approach to any given project might have.

Many of the newly graduated students have already found jobs. Of the 45, 24 have secured full-time engineering jobs and 12 are going to graduate school, according to the university’s public affairs office. Haling and Wolfe are two of those 12.

Seven other students have received offers from employers or graduate schools but haven’t decided what they’ll do yet.

Christina DiMarino, valedictorian of the program and the student speaker for the ceremony, said that one project requiring her to construct a bicycle taught her various lessons, including that “nothing ever works out the first time.”

“The broad nature of this program challenges us in ways that we did not expect,” she said. “I guess it’s about that time to show the world what the JMU School of Engineering really is.”

Contact Candace Sipos at 574-6275 or csipos@dnronline.com