State support needed for WWU degrees that would fuel high-tech jobs

The state must reinvest in Western's successful model, with a specific focus on programs that will train students for the jobs of the emerging economy. The university already has two proposals queued up that would take ambitious steps towards that goal.

The first is the proposed Institute for Energy Studies. Rather than an increasingly arbitrary focus on a specific discipline of engineering, type of science, or school of economics, a degree from the Institute for Energy Studies would provide the interdisciplinary mix of skills that students need to excel in the new energy economy. Many of Washington's top employers are already lined up behind the proposal: Boeing, Alaska Airlines, Puget Sound Energy, McKinstry and Global Smart Energy, just to name a few.

The cost of the institute, estimated at $1.9 million would be marginal compared to the tremendous dividends it would generate in revenue from newly employed energy field auditors, renewable energy project managers and clean technology manufacturers.

The second targeted investment would be transforming Western's existing engineering technology degrees into full-fledged, nationally accredited engineering programs. In the next five years more than half of Boeing's workforce will be eligible for retirement, and by 2018 there will be 78,000 engineering jobs in our state. Right now those jobs are being filled by graduates from other states or other countries - if they are being filed at all. The $4.8 million investment would allow Western to meet that need by training our students for those positions instead.