BY GENEVIEVE POSTLETHWAIT

Come fall of 2017, the University of Kentucky College of Engineering Extended Campus in Paducah will have to do without Murray State University faculty, who have taught courses there for nearly 20 years.

Though MSU's contribution to the program will be missed, the program is expected to fare just fine.

"There are still some administrative details to be worked out at UK, but we're confident that we're going to have the personnel in place that we need to continue the program without interruption," said David Silverstein, director of UK's engineering extended campus programs.

The MSU Board of Regents voted June 10 to dissolve its longstanding commitment to provide faculty for the UK College of Engineering program on the campus of West Kentucky Community & Technical College. The cut was one of many MSU made in response to state funding reductions facing Kentucky colleges and universities.

Since 1997, MSU engineering faculty have taught about 12 courses a year, with UK faculty teaching the rest, all at WKCTC. The resulting program has allowed hundreds of local students to earn four-year, UK College of Engineering degrees without leaving western Kentucky.

MSU will continue sending faculty to UK's Paducah campus for one more year, giving UK time to prepare for the change. Silverstein said the UK provost has approved the hiring of two full-time lecturers to begin teaching in the fall of 2017 and pick up the courses currently being taught by MSU faculty.

"Although we have been pleased to partner with MSU over this time, we understand and respect MSU's decision," said UK College of Engineering Dean John Walz.

"This partnership among three of Kentucky's institutions of higher education has served as a model of how a community can be served effectively by multiple parties even in a competitive environment," Walz said.

"MSU and WKCTC share in the success the Extended Campus in Paducah has had in graduating 273 engineers to date, and we appreciate the willingness of MSU to work with us as we transition to a different instructional arrangement over the course of the next year."

Stephen Cobb, dean of the MSU College of Science, Engineering and Technology, said the colleges' partnership is a tough thing to walk away from, but he's glad they can do so in good conscience.

"The program at Paducah is now very mature, very capable of standing on its own," Cobb said.

Silverstein agreed. When the program first launched, there were very practical reasons for both universities to be involved. But times have changed, he said.

"The budget has evolved to where it no longer really balances out for them to send instructors here," Silverstein said.

It got to a point where MSU was paying to send five or six instructors to UK's Paducah campus each semester to teach just one course each in addition to their growing course loads in Murray.

"It was a strain on them individually, and budget-wise. Still, the instructors that we had from Murray, most were very enthusiastic, and all were very competent," Silverstein said. "It's been a good run. I've enjoyed working with Dean Cobb and his faculty and look forward to other opportunities to collaborate with Murray. There will be other opportunities, no question about it."