The Winona State University bachelor’s degree program in General Engineering has been accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, the global accreditor of college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology.
Sought worldwide, ABET’s voluntary peer-review process is highly respected because it adds critical value to academic programs in the technical disciplines, where quality, precision and safety are of the utmost importance. The ABET accreditation process looks at program curricula, faculty, facilities, and institutional support and is conducted by teams of highly skilled professionals from industry, academia and government, with expertise in the ABET disciplines.
“ABET accreditation is a rigorous process that most engineering programs undergo to ensure that their program graduates engineers with the kinds of skills and training to meet the needs of employers and improve their world,” said Sarah Phan-Budd, Chair of the Winona State Physics Department. “ABET criteria focus on what students experience and learn. It emphasizes a continuous improvement process that ensures that ABET-accredited programs continue to be relevant in our rapidly changing world and collect and analyze data to demonstrate this relevance.”
Accreditation from ABET provides assurance that Winona State’s General Engineering program meets standards to produce graduates ready to enter critical technical fields that are leading the way in innovation and emerging technologies, and anticipating the welfare and safety needs of the public.
“Incoming students look for ABET accreditation to make sure that they are entering a high-quality engineering program,” Phan-Budd continued. “Similarly, employers prefer graduates from accredited engineering programs to ensure their employees have the right skills and training to excel.”
Addressing the needs of students and regional industry partners also was at the forefront in the development of WSU’s General Engineering program, said Phan-Budd.
“(Winona State) has had a physics degree with an electronics emphasis for a long time,” Phan-Budd explained. “The program was already very job-focused, and our physics graduates were getting engineering jobs, at places like Mayo Clinic, Trane, Benchmark, Watlow. These graduates started talking with us and other industry leaders about creating a general engineering program that would be even more closely tailored to the needs of local employers and that would have more engineering content for the students.”
From there, faculty at Winona State worked in consultation with local industry partners to design a program that blends physics coursework with engineering coursework. The result is a program that provides students with a foundational experience in engineering and physics and allows them to choose from two concentrations: Electronics (GENE), which leverages the university’s physics-electronics expertise or Industrial Statistics (GENI), which leverages WSU statistics expertise.
“The greatest strength of the General Engineering program lies in its faculty,” said Nicole Williams, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering at Winona State. “They are deeply committed to student success, exceptionally innovative, and excellent educators.”
The program’s small class sizes allow students direct access to Winona State’s expert faculty, said Williams, with an emphasis on hands-on experiences and encouraging students to apply what they’ve learned. Winona State’s state-of-the-art lab facilities, with more than $5 million in industry-grade equipment, allow students to experience what professional engineers use in the lab and office.
Another mark of the program’s prestige is its continued external support from benefactors and industry partners. Students are eligible to receive engineering scholarships from a generous benefactor and benefit from extensive connections to regional industry, which provide accessible opportunities for internships and job placement.
A program advisory board was convened to continue to leverage the input and influence of partners in the industry, like alumnus Sophronis Mantoles ‘97. Mantoles, who serves as Principal Software Engineer at Cirtec Medical in Brooklyn Park, Minn., joined the Advisory Board to the General Engineering program in 2021.
“This accreditation not only validates the quality of our program but also enhances the value of the education we provide to our students, preparing them to excel in their professional careers,” said Mantoles.
Students in Winona State’s General Engineering program enjoy the added value of strong partnerships with other departments and faculty on campus. The Industrial Statistics concentration partners with Winona State’s Data Science program – one of the first undergraduate data science programs in the U.S. – to give students skills in analyzing big data in an industrial setting. The overall General Engineering program works in collaboration with Winona State’s Composite Materials department, a leader in the field of undergraduate composite materials engineering education.
“I chose to study General Engineering at WSU because I wanted a broad foundation in engineering that could allow me to explore different fields and understand how various systems work together,” said Winona State student Skylar Votaw, who is pursuing a degree in General Engineering with a concentration in Industrial Statistics. “This program prepares students to solve real world problems, which is essential in engineering roles. Additionally, the program’s flexibility allows for exploration within different areas of engineering, which is perfect for someone like me who values both the range and depth in my learning.”
For Votaw, ABET accreditation helps to enhance both the value of her degree as well as her viability as a candidate for jobs in the future.
“Having WSU’s General Engineering program gain ABET accreditation ensures that the education I’m receiving meets high quality standards recognized internationally,” said Votaw. “ABET accreditation could enhance the credibility of my degree, open up more career opportunities, and make it easier to pursue professional engineering licenses or further education. It demonstrates that the program equips students with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in the engineering field.”
For more information on Winona State’s bachelor’s degree program in General Engineering visit wsu.mn/general-engineering.
About Winona State University
Originally founded as a teacher’s college, Winona State University has more than 165 years’ experience educating top teaching professionals. Today, Winona State offers more than 200 majors and programs at the undergraduate, pre-professional, licensure, graduate, and doctorate level in five colleges: Business, Education, Liberal Arts, Nursing & Health Sciences, and Science & Engineering. The university’s Nursing program was established almost 60 years ago and is well-recognized throughout the region. In addition, Winona State is the only accredited undergraduate program in the U.S. that offers a Bachelor of Science in Composite Materials Engineering. For more information visit winona.edu.
About ABET
ABET is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization with ISO 9001:2015 certification. It currently accredits 4,564 programs at 895 colleges and universities in 40 countries and areas. More information about ABET, its member societies and the accreditation criteria used to evaluate programs can be found at abet.org.
