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History of the UK Engineering Extended Campus in Paducah

The Extended Campus Programs in Paducah were the first efforts by the University of Kentucky to establish BS degree programs outside of its Lexington campus. The following summary provides a background history of why and how the programs were established.

The Need:  The threat of losing the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (USEC) and some of the local chemical plants spurred the region to action about getting engineering education in the region. In the late 1980s, the Department of Energy began a search for a site for a new generation uranium enrichment plant to replace the Manhattan Project vintage gaseous diffusion plants. Although that search was eventually terminated, the DOE said that the Purchase Region was not competitive because it had no educational opportunities for the many engineers needed by high technology uranium enrichment plants. At this same time, many other employers in the region reported difficulties in recruiting and retaining engineers. While some of the best and brightest students from the region did pursue engineering at schools in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Tennessee, they often never returned to their home region. Engineers that were recruited from more metropolitan regions often returned to their native cities after just a few years. Engineering turnover rates exceeding 25% per year were common.

The Response:  Local business leaders mounted an effort to persuade state government leaders that engineering educational opportunities were needed to reduce the local brain drain, and to make the area competitive so it could retain the uranium enrichment plant that had anchored the region’s economy for so long. In 1995, MGT of America, Inc., in their report to the Kentucky Council on Higher Education, presented the results of their study in a report entitled: "Engineering Education Needs and Instructional Delivery Models for Far Western Kentucky". Using data from state reports, as well as from interviews with 28 local companies, they estimated that 20-60 additional engineers per year would be needed for the local economy, mostly in mechanical, chemical and electrical engineering.

Perhaps more importantly, the study cited astonishingly low rates of interest in engineering among the region’s high school graduates. The MGT study reported that in 1994 there were only six first-time college enrollees studying engineering (at any institution) from the entire Purchase Region, representing only 1.2% of the first-year state engineering population (6/502). 1997-98 statistics at the University of Kentucky revealed that only three of the 442 BS engineering graduates (0.7%) were from the eight county Purchase Region.

Because of the need for engineering education in the region, region leaders raised more than $8.3 million from private sources to construct an engineering building on the Paducah Community College campus so a four-year institution could offer BS engineering degrees locally. The University of Kentucky developed plans to establish BS programs in mechanical engineering and chemical engineering. The state Council for Higher Education made the decision that UK and Murray State University would share approximately equally in the teaching of upper level classes on the Paducah campus, although the degrees and the program ownership would be through the University of Kentucky.

Classes began in the new 53,000 square-foot Crounse Hall on January 14, 1998. State funds were allocated for lab equipment purchases for the engineering programs, as well as to PCC for its infrastructure upgrades and library renovation. The director of student services was hired in November 1997 and the program director in May 1998. The first Chemical Engineering faculty member arrived in August 1998, two staff members and one ME and one CME faculty members added in 1999, and the final two ME and two CME faculty members arrived in summer 2000. Another staff person was added in 2004 to handle student recruitment and career assistance for students and graduates.

Five engineering faculty members from MuSU were given joint appointments with UK and teach courses in Paducah. Non-engineering Murray faculty members teach upper level math and chemistry courses (considered Murray courses, not UK courses) that cannot be provided by PCC (now renamed West Kentucky Community and Technical College, WKCTC). The UK Paducah faculty members are members of the ME or CME departments in Lexington.

In 2003, both Paducah programs received their full 6-year initial accreditation by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).

The Results:  Student enrollment has been better than most had hoped. Total combined enrollment (freshman through senior, both degree programs) began at 13 in 1998, peaked at 115 in 2001 and dropped back to 97 in 2003. Most are conventional full time students that still live with their parents. All student admissions go through Lexington, so average student credentials are very similar to those in the college of engineering on the main campus and have included a number of high school valedictorians and a national merit scholar. The University of Kentucky has duplicated the special reciprocity agreements of WKCTC for Illinois students from the three counties just across the Ohio River, and permits those students to pay in-state tuition. Only a small number of our students are full time employees who take about one course per semester. Five student organizations have been chartered; AIAA, AIChE, ASME, SAE and SWE. An engineering student council consisting of officers from all organizations represents all engineering students. Ten ME students (Paducah Weightless Wildcats, PaWWs) participated in July 2001 in the NASA reduced gravity program aboard the NASA zero gravity simulator plane. Another group participated again in July 2003, while a third group will go in July 2004. Students regularly participate in Habitat for Humanity, Engineering Week activities, and elementary school science fair judging. As of May 2004, we have had 66 engineering graduates from the Paducah programs.