NORTHERN NEW MEXICO COLLEGE: Engineering Technology Bachelor Programs at Northern Fully Accredited by ABET

By Press release submission

Sep 27, 2020

Northern New Mexico College issued the following announcement on Sept. 23.

Following a recent evaluation, the Bachelor of Engineering in Electromechanical Engineering Technology (EMET) and the Bachelor of Engineering in Information Engineering Technology (IET) programs at Northern New Mexico College are fully accredited by ABET’s Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC).

The Bachelor of Engineering in Electromechanical Engineering Technology Program (BEng EMET) began in Fall 2015 and has received ABET accreditation status in 2020. This accreditation applies to all EMET program graduates as of April 2018. The Bachelor of Engineering in Information Engineering Technology (BEng IET) Program was first accredited by ABET in 2014 and has been reaccredited in 2020.

According to the ABET website, “ABET accreditation provides assurance that a college or university program meets the quality standards of the profession for which that program prepares graduates. With ABET accreditation, students, parents, employers, and the society we serve can be confident that a program meets the quality standards that produce graduates prepared to enter a global workforce.”

“The full accreditation by ABET of both of our Bachelor of Engineering programs at Northern speaks to the quality of instruction we offer to prepare our graduates for professions in the Engineering Technology field,” said Dr. Sadia Ahmed, chair of Northern’s Department of Engineering & Technology. “This accreditation is a stamp of approval that our programs meet the quality standards of the profession for which that program prepares graduates, and employers look for that.”

Since 2018, 13 students have graduated from Northern’s BEng EMET program, many of whom began as student interns at Los Alamos National Laboratories and now hold full-time positions. Other graduates have gone on to pursue graduate degrees, work for local and regional companies, or become educators. Between 5 and 10 students graduate from the BEng IET program each academic year.

Career opportunities for graduates of the BEng EMET program include lucrative positions in the energy sector, including renewable energy, aerospace engineering, medical device development, detonator design and production, robotics, and more. Career opportunities for graduates of the BEng IET program include technical and leadership positions in information technology, cybersecurity, software engineering, and information systems.

The national average salary for Electromechanical Engineering Technology and Information Engineering Technology Bachelor degree-holders is between $70,000 and $80,000 per year, and key employers in New Mexico include the Los Alamos National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories, Lockheed Martin, and Ball Aerospace.

All academic programs at Northern are accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, but several programs have received additional industry-specific accreditations in recent years. Examples include Northern’s ADN Nursing program, accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), the RN-BSN program, accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), the Department of Business Administration’s bachelor’s programs, accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), and the Bachelor’s of Elementary Education and Alternative Licensure programs in Northern’s Department of Teacher Education, accredited by the National Council of Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE).

“This is great news for Northern New Mexico College and for our community,” said Northern New Mexico College President Rick Bailey. “This vote of confidence by ABET validates the caliber of our outstanding faculty and the quality of our education. We are grateful to Dr. Ahmed and the students, faculty and staff of the Department of Engineering and Technology for this great accomplishment.”

For more information about Northern's Electromechanical Engineering and Information Engineering Technology programs, visit www.nnmc.edu.

Original source can be found here.