WSU Expands Campus Reach to Train For Aerospace Jobs

As the Aerospace industry grows, so does the need for educated and highly trained aerospace workers. Washington State University is one of the schools who recognize that need for qualified workers, and they are creating a branch campus that will focus on delivering aerospace workers to the companies that need them. The new branch campus for WSU that will focus on Aerospace is going to be located in Everett, Washington, which is about 30 miles north of Seattle. Everett is also home to Everett Community College and Trinity Lutheran College.

Of course, the Everett branch campus isn’t just about Aerospace. The real focus for students will be in the field of science and technology as well as in engineering and math. They even have a mnemonic for the course studies, STEM, which includes the branches of study that relate to the field of aerospace. The classes and education that the students will receive will be geared towards the Boeing workforce in Snohomish County. “It’s the most populous county west of the Mississippi without a four-year institution,” said WSU vice-president for external affairs and government relations, Colleen Kerr. “There are a lot of people associated with Boeing who need the access to higher education.”

The state gave WSU a ten million dollar grant to develop the building where the STEM programs will be located. The 95,000 sf building is called the University Center and the Board of Regents gave approval on Friday to buy the land and being pre-construction. The current model of the building will look similar to the Spokane Campus of WSU, where a group of colleges offer programs in health science. The satellite programs are currently managed by Everett Community College, but WSU will be taking them over soon.