Greenway Visits Iron Range

As we develop Greenway’s engineering curriculum, we incorporate best practices from across the world of engineering education and beyond.?One of the most innovative programs in engineering education is called Iron Range Engineering located in Northeast Minnesota.?A group from Greenway & Elizabethtown College recently spent a packed two-day visit learning about the program and meeting the faculty, facilitators, and students.?The program was started in 2009 as a project-based program for 3rd and 4th year engineering students and underwent a major revision in 2019 to include a work-integrated model.?

Iron Range’s mottos include – “Earn while you learn” and “Become the engineer you want to be.”?Students learn by doing engineering – with a focus on the three-legged stool that Iron Range defines as crucial to engineering – technical knowledge, design expertise, and professional skills.?And students learn on the job – which is both a great way to really learn engineering skills and also a way to pay for their education – with students generally earning more than tuition costs during their education at Iron Range.?

The Iron Range team was extremely generous with their time – setting up a full two days of meetings with everyone from the founding team – Ron Ulseth and Bart Johnson; to numerous meetings with students both on campus at the Bell Program and off-campus doing work-integrated learning across the USA; with faculty including Darcie Christensen, Elizabeth Pluskwik, Lauren Singelmann, Catherine Spence, Emilie Siverling, Jack Elliot, and Jen Karlin; with directors Christine Kennedy and Cody Mann; with Department Head Rebecca Bates; and facilitators including Andrew Hanegmon, Arynn Lorentz, Andy Lillesve, Luke Nyberg, Katie Scherf, Neil Schroeder, Jodi Nelson.?

The Greenway team is so thankful for the wealth of knowledge and experience shared by the Iron Range team, as well as their kindness and hospitality.?The Iron Range team mentioned a similar visit they previously took to Australia to visit the innovative engineering programs at Charles Sturt University – and how valuable that visit had been.?Greenway hopes one day to be able to “pay it forward” by hosting its own visitors looking to improve engineering education, the student and community experience, and the value of a college education.???