ODU Graduates First Class from Newport News Shipbuilding Engineering Partnership

December 19, 2017

Audience members listen during a final project presentation from one of the 12 Newport News Shipbuilding employees who earned a master's in electrical engineering.

Old Dominion University has long served the military and shipbuilding community in Hampton Roads, including educating the workforce at the Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News shipyard.

That tradition continued with Old Dominion University's 127th commencement exercises Dec. 16 where 12 Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) employees graduated with master's degrees in electrical engineering through a partnership between NNS, the Batten College of Engineering and Technology and the College of Continuing Education and Professional Development.

The program began to be developed in 2014 in response to a need identified by NNS to strengthen the engineering knowledge base of their management level employees. The degree program's delivery was customized to meet the needs of working adults. In it, NNS engineers take classes as a group, or cohort. A select group of ODU faculty was assembled to teach the coursework and after three years, the final project class began in September 2017.

"This program is a great example of two colleges, College of Engineering and College of Continuing Education and Professional Development, working together to provide a customized program meeting the specific needs of a large employer," said James Shaeffer, dean of the College of Continuing Education and Professional Development.

"This could not have happened without the dedication of the faculty in the College of Engineering," Shaeffer said.