Contact:
Krysta West
Communications Director
Senate Republican Office
(207) 287-1505
krysta.west@legislature.maine.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On Tuesday, November 28, Senate Assistant Majority Leader Amy Volk (R-Cumberland) was recognized at a University of Southern Maine Works for ME event for her efforts to expand public postsecondary engineering education.

USM President Glenn Cummings thanked Senator Volk at the gathering with the Texas Instruments (TI) USM Alumni Association at the South Portland semiconductor manufacturer. TI is one of the state’s largest employers of engineers with more than 30 USM alumni from engineering majors and other disciplines.

At the Senator’s urging and in response to a growing engineering shortage in the state, USM has been working with the University of Maine College of Engineering to develop a bold, multi-year plan to significantly increase the number of job-ready engineers the University of Maine System graduates. This fall’s incoming class of engineering majors at both USM and UMaine is the largest in the history of the respective institutions.

“It is estimated that in the next decade, Maine’s economy will require nearly twice as many new engineers as are currently produced here,” said Sen. Volk. “Along with continued growth in engineering enrollment at both USM and UMaine, significant State investment in a new engineering education center at UMaine and USM’s new articulation agreement with Southern Maine Community College that creates a 2 + 2 pathway to a USM engineering degree, the System will meaningfully close that gap and ensure Maine employers like TI have the skilled workforce they need.”

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