With the return of students and faculty to campus this fall, much discussion has surrounded a new building project underway as Whitworth’s engineering program is working on new learning spaces, planned to be completed by January of 2026.
Seeing a rapid increase in enrollment in the early 2000s, discussions on expanding into additional space for the engineering department have been ongoing since 2006. The university’s B.S. in Engineering program produced only two graduates with its inaugural class, whereas the incoming class of 2024 has added about 30 students to this number, with admissions data demonstrating high demand for this program.
“We received a national award from the American Association of Physics Teachers in 2007 for the growth we achieved by then. Therefore, since then, our corresponding need for space and facilities has remained a pressing concern,” said Dr. Kamesh Sankaran, Engineering and Physics Department Chair. “The need became even greater when our department expanded its offerings with a B.S. in Engineering in 2017. Looking broadly at the various needs and opportunities around the campus, Whitworth initiated an exploration of a new building in 2018.”
Following this, in 2020, the university looked to a refined focus on creating a new facility for the engineering program, according to Sankaran. The Board of Trustees granted approval for the enactment of plans to do so in October 2021, and with over two years of work involving planning and design, ground was broken on the new building project in May 2024.
The factors requiring a space designated solely for engineering students fall mainly under the constraints of current and outdated facilities within the Eric Johnston building. With the quality and amount of space needed for engineering studies being extremely particular, this expansion will be highly beneficial.
To meet the Board of Trustees enrollment target of 24 graduates per year from Whitworth’s ABET-accredited engineering program, the university needed roughly 30,000 square feet of facilities, including computer systems, instructional labs, research labs and advanced prototyping facilities.
“However, we simply could not afford to build a new facility of that size. Therefore, we had to limit the new building to 20,000 square feet and keep about one-third of our program in the Eric Johnston Science Center,” said Sankaran. “Though it will be challenging for our faculty, students, and equipment to function across two buildings, it was the sensible compromise to account for the fiscal realities.”
With these shifts will also come great advancement, seen in the new building is an ISO 7 standard cleanroom, a controlled environment that limits airborne particles to cleanliness standards set by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the only one in the Western U.S. designed specifically for the education of undergraduate students in skills needed throughout the semiconductor industry, a U.S. national priority.
“First and foremost, I’m excited to provide more opportunities for hands-on interactions between the faculty and the students; the two fabrication rooms, the two research labs, and the intentionally designed informal gathering areas throughout the building,” Sankaran said. “We are immensely grateful for the support shown by our donors for this endeavor; the $16 million in outside money, not from our regular operating budget, that we have received so far, and more that we are expecting, reveals the confidence and excitement that alumni, families, engineering industries, and non-profit foundations have in the quality of our program,” said Sankaran.