GU to train power, electrical engineers

A new academic program to train engineers specializing in energy transmission will be announced Monday by Gonzaga University.

Taking part in the announcement at 1:30 p.m. on the GU campus will be Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and a number of Spokane power-industry executives.

The program’s curriculum will be developed using a $750,000 federal grant, said GU Engineering Dean Dennis Horn.

Cantwell and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., helped secure that grant by pointing out the growing need for engineers in the electrical-transmission industry.

In 2003 Cantwell released a report that said the industry in the U.S. needs to add 1,000 jobs in the next five years. The need for electrical and power engineers is due to the retirement of many professionals in that industry, Cantwell concluded.

Gonzaga’s program will help address the shortage by training an expected 75 engineers per year by the fifth year of operation, according to a press release issued on Friday. Horn said the first courses in the program could begin in fall 2005 or spring 2006.

Employees of Avista Corp. will help develop the program and train those who’ll teach it, said Don Kopczynski, a company vice president. The Spokane energy company will lose half its engineers to retirement over the next six years, some of whom have 35 years of experience. The company is looking forward to the new Gonzaga program filling some of that need, he said.

Horn said the course will include five three-credit courses with both civil and mechanical engineering content. The university may grow the program to add graduate courses later, Horn said.