Written by: Eva Resz
Southern Adventist University’s Bachelor of Science and Engineering (BSE) program surpassed its four-year enrollment goal, according to Tyson Hall, dean of the School of Engineering and Physics.
The original prospectus for the BSE program estimated a freshman enrollment of 25 engineering students in Fall 2024, bringing the total enrollment to 45. However, this fall, the program welcomed 47 engineering freshmen, for a total engineering enrollment of 97, according to Hall.
“We [collectively, all of the Adventist universities] hesitated to start a four-year engineering [degree] for a long time because we didn’t want to compete with our sister institution, Walla Walla,” Blake Laing, professor of engineering and physics, said in an interview with the Accent.
Laing said that, in the past, among Adventist universities, Walla Walla University was the only institution offering a four-year engineering degree. Southern offered a two-year program and Southern’s engineering students would often go to Walla Walla to complete their degree.
However, Laing explained that many prospective students who visited Southern and were interested in the engineering program would often attend a different school in the Southeast rather than an Adventist university.
“So, that’s why we started that four-year program,” said Laing, “because of the students that just want to stay in this area; we want them to have a place to go.”
After decades of offering a two-year pre-engineering program, Southern’s bachelor of science in engineering program opened in Fall 2023. According to Hall, if current enrollment trends continue, the engineering program could grow to over 150 students within the next three years. Laing added that since the four-year program began, his sophomore physics class has tripled; previously, an average of 10 students signed up, but this year, 31 students enrolled.
The School of Engineering and Physics hired an additional engineering faculty member to begin teaching in Winter 2025 and will continue adding equipment to the engineering laboratories to keep up with student enrollment. For upcoming school years, the engineering program will also explore adding a fourth emphasis area.
“So, our role in the physics part of the engineering and physics school is to help students get set up for success and [determine] how to accommodate more students coming into this program, [how to] to help students get the support they need in their hard classes, things like tutoring and working in groups, making friends,” Laing said.
According to Hall, the first group of students who finished the pre-engineering program and chose to continue studying at Southern will graduate with the BSE at the end of this academic year.
“We are Adventist educators, and once we have students that want an education, we’d like them to be able to come get that education here and be prepared to do well when they go out in the world — to do well in their career, but also to do well in service,” Laing said. “Our job is to help build a community among those students in their first two years, because that’s going to carry them through into their harder upper-division classes.”
