[446] MTSU, UT Space Institute Academic Partnership Takes Flight

Release date: April 28, 2009


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919 or jweiler@mtsu.edu


MTSU, UT Space Institute Academic Partnership Takes Flight

(MURFREESBORO) — Wayne Dornan called it “a monumental event” for the MTSU Department of Aerospace program he oversees.
Dr. Angie Bukley, University of Tennessee Space Institute interim associate vice president and chief administrator, said she’s “looking forward to a strong partnership” and already can “see examples of the great students we’ll have at UTSI.”
MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee added that it “is a very unique partnership between two great universities that have world-class facilities, faculty and students.”
Bukley, McPhee and Dornan formally announced an academic partnership in the area of flight test engineering in MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building Tuesday morning.
Final approval must come from the Tennessee Board of Regents, Dornan said.
Under the partnership, students will spend 3½ years at MTSU. In their last semester, they will take classes at the UTSI campus near Tullahoma. These classes will go toward their undergraduate degree while at the same time count as prerequisite classes for the M.S. at UTSI.
“It’ll be a great program to have,” said Nathaniel Gallagher, a senior aerospace technology major from Pelham, who will graduate May 9 from MTSU and whose Grundy County home down Interstate 24 is in close proximity to UTSI. “UTSI is a high-ranking institution. It’s a great opportunity (for MTSU) to partner with them.”
Gallagher was one of six MTSU students expressing an interest in doing graduate work at UTSI.
The others include seniors (and May 9 graduate hopefuls) Joseph Prince of Murfreesboro and formerly from Hendersonville and Cary Smith of Franklin; sophomore Tanner Merritt of Arlington; senior Kevin Bonds of Nashville; and senior Jud McCracken of Murfreesboro and Jackson. McCracken already has been accepted at UTSI, Dornan said.
“I really like the sound of this program,” said Merritt. “It’s more directed than just a technology program. This seems a little clearer. It’ll be locked down by the time I’m a senior.
“To do this with a partner who’s so close (geographically) is great,” Bukley said. “Hopefully, this will open doors with the whole university system.
Along with Bukley from UTSI were Dr. Ahmad Vakili, interim assistant vice president for research; Dr. Basil Antar, degree program chair for the engineering science program; and Dr. Stephen Corda, program chair for the flight test engineering program.
Bukley said University of Tennessee-Knoxville College of Engineering Dean Wayne Davis and Greg Sedrick, UTSI professor and dean of academic affairs, were unable to attend.
“UTSI certainly will benefit from the additional enrollment of highly qualified candidates entering our degree program,” Bukley said. “We are extremely pleased about this partnership and look forward to exploring other avenues of cooperation.”
“This is a very unique partnership,” Dornan said. “It provides an avenue for MTSU aerospace students to pursue a master’s in flight test engineering in a way that would not be possible without the partnership.
McPhee credited Murfreesboro-based consortium Mind2Marketplace for playing a vital role in the UTSI-MTSU partnership. M2M, which was represented by Chair Andrea Loughry and Executive Director Sandy Ponder, looks for multiple partnerships between universities, chambers of commerce, existing businesses and government agencies. M2M covers a 40-county region between Oak Ridge National Laboratories and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
Since fall 2005, academic officials at both universities began the partnering process to build the flight test engineering program, Dornan said, adding that in the last several years, faculty and administrators from both schools have worked to make it a reality.
Flight test engineering supports the development, certification and modification of civilian and military aircraft and systems, Dornan said, adding that there is only one other degree program of this type in the western world.

For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.

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