WSU president: Wichita a ‘lubrication capital’

Wichita State University plans to request $2 million from the state for a new chemical engineering program.

WSU president John Bardo said the new program would help strengthen Wichita as an engineering hub.

“Wichita is not an aircraft city. Wichita is an engineering city,” Bardo told the Kansas Board of Regents on Tuesday.

“Wichita is one of the lubrication capitals of the world. That isn’t something that I ever spent a whole lot of time thinking about.”

Bardo suggested that if they start the program, they could recruit lubrication manufacturers – and jobs – to the university’s innovation campus.

“There is a high possibility that we could bring in an international company to support us, and they would bring a fair amount of jobs with them,” he said. “Wouldn’t it be helpful if we could help them recruit?”

Wichita is already home to two of the region’s largest lubrication manufacturers: Universal Lubricants and Lubrication Engineers.

The idea for the program is an offshoot of the Blueprint for Regional Economic Growth, a regional coalition that looks at the area’s economy to determine areas best for development.

According to a report by the Brookings Institute, Wichita has the third-largest percentage of workers in advanced industries in the country (15.5 percent), following San Jose (30 percent) and Seattle (16 percent).

Currently, WSU’s engineering department – one of the biggest departments on campus – offers seven engineering programs, in addition to computer science and engineering technology.

The new chemical engineering program would help diversify the workforce, help grow the current program and “provide the basis for sustainable industrial growth in the region,” according to the university’s proposal document.

The program would be phased in over five years, with the $2 million request recurring each year, according to the proposal.

For the first year, $1.8 million would cover equipment to start the program and the rest would go toward salaries for a limited staff. The funding would then shift to largely cover staff salaries. Starting salaries would range from $114,000 for assistant professors to $225,000 for the department chair.

This story was originally published August 11, 2016 at 7:10 AM with the headline "WSU president: Wichita a ‘lubrication capital’."