JMU’s first engineers getting job, grad-school offers

It has been four years since they entered a program unlike any other in Virginia, and the results indicate they made a good choice.

Of the 45 students who make up the inaugural class of the JMU School of Engineering, 24 already have secured full-time engineering jobs. Another 12 will be heading off to graduate school. The schools they will be going to include the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Cornell, Pennsylvania State University, Arizona State University and the University of Delaware.

Seven other students have received job or graduate school offers, but have not yet accepted.

Of the 43 students who took the fundamentals of engineering exam, nearly a third have passed and many more are still awaiting results. The FE exam is typically the first step in the process leading to a professional engineer license. It is designed for students who are close to finishing an undergraduate engineering degree. The exam lasts eight hours and is administered in April and October.

When JMU started the School of Engineering, it chose a sustainability focus unlike other engineering schools in Virginia. In addition to learning technical skills, the students learn the social, economic and environmental considerations engineers must embrace, not only to succeed in their profession, but to make meaningful contributions in the communities they choose to work in.

The school’s first graduates will receive their diplomas at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 5, in the Festival Conference and Student Center Ballroom on JMU’s campus east of Interstate 81.