As the New Year opens with the smooth progression of the construction of the engineering building, the School of Engineering at Tarleton State is scheduled to open its classrooms and labs by Spring 2019. With a new facility, comes new programs and a switch of faculty positions.

One such change in faculty is Dr. Mircea Agapie becoming the Department Head of Engineering and Computer Sciences.

“Since we just started the semester, I cannot say a lot about my new position, but I do go to a lot of meetings now,” commented Agapie. “Dr. Martinez, the previous department head, has been helping me a lot with the adjustment of this new position.”

Another change in faculty is Dr. Denise Martinez taking the lead in the School of Engineering as the Associate Dean. Martinez was unfortunately not available for an interview due to an out of town business trip.

The School will be offering four Engineering programs and one Computer Science program.

“We have Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Environmental Engineering and Civil Engineering,” said Agapie. “We only have one degree in Computer Science, but we will offer four concentrations in the Fall 2019, which we hope will become their own degree programs in the future. These concentrations are Data Science, Game Design, Software Engineering and Computer Engineering.

“One program the School will be offering will be a specialized two-year plan for a Masters Degree in Computer Engineering. As soon as we move into the new building, [The School] will begin developing [The Two Year Plan] for students to begin working into that plan,” said Agapie.

With a lot of programs being offered, Agapie says, “it will be a challenge to coordinate all of these [programs], but I’m looking forward to that, in a sense, because someone has to do it.”