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From Vision to Validation Accreditation Affirms Excellence in Engineering

Dan Jensen is all smiles after his engineering department earns full accreditation

By
Scott Craig

Westmont’s engineering program has earned full ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accreditation following an extensive three-year process that involved reviewing facilities, faculty, students and funding. Only two other Christian colleges in California have received this accreditation, retroactive to October 2022. The significant designation boosts engineering alums.

Westmont engineering students with their final projects

“I recently talked to a hiring manager at the Northrop location in Goleta, and he said this opens up all kinds of opportunities,” says Dan Jensen, who directs Westmont’s engineering program. “Raytheon is the same. I’ve got contacts at Raytheon who are excited to hire some of our students as well.”

The accreditation team, which examined seven specific student outcomes to ensure they’re factored into all the courses, praised Westmont’s program, noting no deficiencies, weaknesses or even concerns and highlighting support from the external advisory board and Westmont’s leadership.

Jensen, who has been involved in a dozen, four-year college accreditations, says it’s the first perfect review he’s seen. “They said what Westmont engineering is doing is so good, we don’t have any concerns — it’s a completely clean slate.”

A separate category, program educational objectives, examines outcomes of the college’s graduates to see how alums perform three to five years after graduation. “I was with some of our grads last night who came over to my house,” Jensen says, “and they're working for wonderful companies, doing great stuff. We've got alums going to prestigious graduate schools, including one who graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology and has returned as an adjunct professor here. Others are working at Northrop, Lockheed, the Department of Energy and for small engineering companies as well.”

The engineering department will host a public celebration with a short program during Homecoming on Friday, Oct. 17, from 4-5 p.m. at the Fletcher Jones Foundation Center for Engineering.