This fall, a new undergraduate mechanical engineering program and graduate-level structural engineering program will begin taking students.
PANAMA CITY — For the first time since 2011, the Florida State University Board of Trustees convened at FSU Panama City for a regular board meeting, bringing with them approval for two new, in-demand programs.
This fall, a new undergraduate mechanical engineering program and graduate-level structural engineering program will begin taking students. Both programs are designed to fit into the area's current needs and serve as a catalyst for future economic growth.
On Thursday, Glen McDonald with Bay Defense Alliance, Becca Hardin with the Bay Economic Development Alliance and FSU PC Dean Randy Hanna caught the board up on some of the major developments and drivers happening around Bay County in the last year-and-a-half, including the Eastern Shipbuilding Coast Guard contract, addition of GKN Aerospace and planned new Reaper Wing at Tyndall Air Force Base. Each one of those discussions, Hanna said, focused on engineering and the engineers the university would be able to produce for the workforce.
“We have electrical engineering, and we have a great civil engineering program,” Hanna said. “Our community has asked for a mechanical engineering program."
That program is an expansion of the FAMU-FSU mechanical engineering program on the Tallahassee campus, while the systems engineering program was developed in conjunction with Naval Support Activity Panama City. Dean Murray Gibson, who leads the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, said there are about 150 engineers currently working at NSAPC, and this program is critical both to their advancement in their careers and in retaining them and keeping them at the Panama City station.
“The closest place to Tallahassee with a significant pocket of industry is here,” Gibson said. “Not only is it already great, but it has potential to grow.”
Students will take classes on the Panama City campus, but there will also be potential for the systems engineering students to attend class remotely from Tallahassee through an ITV system.
During a committee meeting before the general board meeting, the Academic Affairs subcommittee also approved a motion to begin exploring a Bachelor of Science degree in financial planning and services for the FSU Panama City campus.
While in Panama City, the trustees were given a tour of the campus, visiting the Early Childhood Autism Program, nurse anesthetist program and underwater crime scene lab. It was familiar stomping ground for new trustee Jorge Gonzalez, president and CEO of the St. Joe Company, who was appointed to the board by Gov. Rick Scott last week, along with Kathryn Ballard. Gonzalez is a “big supporter” of FSU Panama City, Hanna said, serving on the school’s Campus Development Board.
It was also familiar ground for board member Bob Sasser, CEO of Dollar Tree and Family Dollar Stores, who is a Bay High School class of ‘69 graduate. Bay High Principal Billy May presented Sasser with an athletic letter, Bay High garb and a Tornadoes hat, which he promptly put on.
“We want to put stuff on you so you can claim Bay High was well,” May said to applause.