Southwestern University Adds Engineering to Wide Lineup of Majors and Minors
Located on the northern edge of Central Texas’ “Silicon Hills” innovation hub and rooted in the liberal arts, Southwestern’s new engineering program will prepare students to tackle 21st century problems.
Southwestern University has added another degree offering to its wide array of majors and minors. Beginning this fall, current and incoming students will have the opportunity to pursue a bachelor of science (B.S.) in engineering. Housed within the Department of Physics, Southwestern’s newest major will educate the next generation of engineers in the liberal arts tradition, ensuring they have a profound understanding of the impact of the technologies they develop.
“This is the first new degree that Southwestern has added in almost 20 years and one that our students have been eagerly asking for,” Professor of Physics Steve Alexander said. “We expect that several of our physics majors will immediately take advantage of this opportunity and become engineering majors. By this time next year, we plan to graduate our first cohort of engineers, and in the fall, we hope to see a large influx of new students that want to study engineering at Southwestern.”
Southwestern’s engineering program is designed to provide students with a strong foundation in engineering principles, mathematics, and applied physics, with a particular emphasis on innovation and problem-solving. The degree will integrate classroom instruction and laboratory experience, culminating in a year-long engineering capstone project in which students will work with industry partners to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world problems.
Southwestern’s addition of an undergraduate engineering degree will expand opportunities for rigorous inquiry, strengthen interdisciplinary connections across the curriculum, and attract strong students motivated to study engineering. Students will have the opportunity to work in research settings that integrate engineering with the arts and sciences, providing high-impact learning experiences while maintaining the breadth of knowledge that comes from attending a liberal arts institution.
An added benefit, Southwestern is located on the northern edge of an area in Central Texas dubbed the “Silicon Hills,” a major engineering hub with a significant presence from companies such as Apple, Dell, Intel, NVIDIA, Samsung, and others. With assistance from the University’s nationally-ranked Center for Career and Professional Development, students will be poised to compete for relevant employment opportunities at global organizations.
With the addition of this new major, Southwestern’s world-class Department of Physics will be expanded to become the Department of Physics and Engineering, offering four degree programs: B.S. in physics, bachelor of arts (B.A.) in physics, B.A. in applied physics, and B.S. in engineering.
The engineering major will be taught primarily by two of Southwestern’s current assistant professors of physics, Cody Crosby and August Kohls, who have both achieved advanced degrees in engineering. Crosby earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas and Kohls earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Southwestern has also launched a nationwide search for an additional tenure-track engineering faculty member and will aim to add additional faculty as the program grows in the years to come.
After Southwestern graduates the first cohort of engineering students in the spring of 2027, the University will begin the formal process of obtaining accreditation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), the leading accreditation organization for post-secondary programs in engineering, engineering technology, computing, and applied and natural sciences.
In addition to the new degree, SU will continue to provide students interested in engineering with pathways to electrical, mechanical, and emerging engineering fields. Much like the degree itself, Southwestern’s pre-engineering pathways place the technical training of the engineer within the broader perspective of a liberal arts education.
Southwestern currently offers a dual-degree engineering program where students earn a B.A. in applied physics from Southwestern in three years before completing their undergraduate degree in engineering at an ABET-accredited institution. SU has a formal partnership with Washington University in St. Louis, allowing students to earn undergraduate degrees from both institutions. Washington University also offers a fast-track option to earn a master’s degree in engineering.
Similarly, Southwestern and Texas Tech University recently partnered to offer a streamlined path to a master’s degree. Students who participate in the program earn a B.A. in applied physics from Southwestern and a master of science in mechanical engineering at Texas Tech in just five years.
Southwestern University published this content on March 24, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on March 24, 2026 at 18:16 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]
