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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s surveying and geomatics program has raised $520,000 to market their program to high school students. The four-year bachelor’s program is new to SIUE and is a collaboration between the School of Engineering (SOE) and the Department of Geography and Geographic Information Sciences.

This program has a strong advisory board comprised of corporate and professional leaders in the field.  The degree program is the only one of its kind within 300 miles of the St. Louis area. The need for an excellent talent pipeline is a pressing concern for SOE stakeholders, and with this professional program employers are ready to hire SIUE graduates. 

John Cabage, PhD, associate professor and Chair of the Department of Construction, said the funds for marketing the program came from surveying companies in Illinois and Missouri.

“In six short months, we were able to get investments from 22 different companies,” said Cabage. “We asked them to be corporate sponsors of our program, and we explained to them that the funds would strictly be used for recruiting new surveying and geomatics students.”

Cabage said the corporate sponsorships set aside $24,000 for 18 scholarships to be awarded to admitted first-year, sophomore and transfer students as an integral part of the recruiting plan.

Lisa Smith, Director of Development, School of Engineering, said the fundraising campaign was born from the need for more surveying professionals.

“We worked with professional partners and listened to what their needs are, [then] we created this program,” Smith said. “The program is a nice balance of sponsorship from the profession, which allowed us to have the money we needed for the recruiting and marketing aspect of the [program’s] launch. We are also giving benefits to the professional investors that allows them to engage with our students throughout their four or five-year higher education journey.”

The campaign’s Founding Partners include American Surveying & Engineering, Cage Civil Engineering, CEMCON, and Hampton, Lenzini & Renwick (HLR).  The Impact Partners include ASM Consultants, Horner & Shifrin, Juneau Associates, Mackie Consultants, Manhard Consulting, SAM, Sanchez & Associates, Sherrill Associates, TWM and Volkert. The campaign’s Sustaining Partners include API Survey, Heneghan and Associates, IPLSA – Northeast Chapter, Oates Associates, Eric Sladek, TWiG Technologies, V3 Companies and Willett, Hofmann & Associates.

With strong employment opportunities and career prospects, Cabage said the program will be appealing to students who like to be outside, students with math skills who can compile data in both office and field environments, students with entrepreneurial business sense and those who can work individually and as a team.

He notes the primary audience for the campaign are high school students in the greater St. Louis and Chicago areas. “We have a collaboration with College of DuPage now that we are working on so that we can be more regional in our attempt at attracting students,” Cabage said.

To market their program, Cabage said they have revamped their websites and signed contracts with two marketing firms. The marketing firms will coordinate with SIUE admissions to create email and digital marketing ads, as well as testimonial videos for the program webpage.

Because of the active engagement of professional partners and industry leaders, students have opportunities to develop relationships within the profession before they graduate into the field. Cabage said a long-term goal is to establish SIUE’s program as the premier surveying and geomatics program. He also highlighted that many companies are offering students internship and job shadowing opportunities as early as after their freshman year.

Cabage mentioned David Sherrill, program director of Surveying and Geomatics, as someone who has had a passion to work towards SIUE having the bachelor’s degree program. Cabage said the Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Association, as well as the SIUE Engineering Advisory Board have championed the program since its onset.

“We’re working with admissions and marketing to make sure we spend the money wisely and to make sure our marketing collateral meets university standards,” Cabage said. “It’s been a lot of work and there’s a lot more to do, but it has been promising.” 
 
PHOTO:  John Cabage, PhD, associate professor and Chair of the Department of Construction, and Lisa Smith, Director of Development, School of Engineering