WSU, WATC affiliation moves forward with governor’s signature

An affiliation between Wichita State University and Wichita Area Technical College is one step closer to completion.

On Wednesday, Gov. Sam Brownback signed the bill authorizing the affiliation that would allow students to more easily take classes at both schools, transfer credits and increase technical and research collaboration between faculty of both schools.

“It seems to me that what you’re creating here is a new relationship that broadens that pathway to a middle-class life, and hopefully much more,” Brownback said at a ceremonial signing at WSU’s Experiential Engineering Building on the Innovation Campus.

The final step, WATC president Sheree Utash said at the ceremony, is approval from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

“And by July of 2018 we’ll be able to roll up our sleeves … and transform Wichita Area Technical College into Wichita State University Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology,” she said.

Utash said the affiliation will allow WSU and WATC “to have far more impact” on technical and academic programs than they would alone. She also said the affiliation “provides business and industry with a workforce they badly need” and will allow the schools to “create new programs that will meet the needs of our industry.”

The affiliation is not a full merger between the schools. But for WATC it will mean the control of its board of directors would shift to the Kansas Board of Regents, under the umbrella of WSU.

WATC offers a variety of programs teaching specific technical jobs in industries such as health care, aviation, manufacturing and law enforcement. Students can earn technical certification from those programs or further their studies by adding general education classes to earn a two-year associate of applied science degree.

It has about 3,600 students, including a large number of high school students who pursue technical education through a state program. Its main campus is on North Webb Road, which also houses the National Center for Aviation Training.

WSU has about 14,475 students, and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in a variety of majors.

The legislation calling for the WSU-WATC affiliation was modeled after a similar affiliation between Washburn University in Topeka and Washburn Institute of Technology.

“It really scaled up the program,” Brownback said of the Washburn affiliation. “And I look for that to happen here, and even in a greater way.”

This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 5:57 PM with the headline "WSU, WATC affiliation moves forward with governor’s signature."