22 Companies Invest in SIUE’s Surveying and Geomatics Program

22 Companies Invest in SIUE's Surveying and Geomatics Program

October 10, 2024, 3:36 PM

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's surveying and geomatics program has raised $520,000 to market their program to high school students. The four-year bachelor's program is new to SIUE and is a collaboration between the School of Engineering and the Department of Geography and Geographic Information Sciences.

John Cabage, PhD, associate professor and Chair of the Construction Management program, said the funds for marketing the program came from surveying companies in Illinois and Missouri.

"In six short months, we were able to get investments from 22 different companies," Cabage said. "We asked them to be corporate sponsors of our program, and we explained to them that the funds would strictly be used for recruiting new surveying and geomatics students."

Cabage said the corporate sponsorships set aside $24,000 for 18 scholarships to be awarded to admitted freshman, sophomore and transfer students as an integral part of the recruiting plan.

The campaign's Founding Partners include American Surveying & Engineering, Cage Civil Engineering, CEMCON, and Hampton, Lenzini & Renwick (HLR). The Impact Partners include ASM Consultants, Horner & Shifrin, Juneau Associates, Mackie Consultants, Manhard Consulting, SAM, Sanchez & Associates, TWM and Volkert. The campaign's Sustaining Partners include API Survey, Heneghan and Associates, IPLSA - Northeast Chapter, Oates Associates, Eric Sladek, TWiG Technologies, V3 Companies and Willett, Hofmann & Associates.

To market their program, Cabage said they have revamped their websites and signed contracts with two marketing firms. The marketing firms will coordinate with SIUE admissions to create email and digital marketing ads, as well as testimonial videos for the program webpage.

"We are in the process of developing a Meta ad campaign that will take the attributes of our current students, profile those attributes, and then apply those like attributes at a high school level so we can target our Meta ads directly to our high school audience."

Cabage said desired attributes are students who like to be outside, students with math skills who can compile data in both office and field environments, students with entrepreneurial business sense and those who can work individually and as a team.

He notes the primary audience for the campaign are high school students in the greater St. Louis and Chicago areas. "We have a collaboration with College of DuPage now that we are working on so that we can be more regional in our attempt at attracting students," Cabage said. "This is the only 4-year degree surveying and geomatics program in a 400-mile radius of St. Louis, so we have to increase our geographic reach when we are recruiting students."

Cabage said the collaboration with College of DuPage will involve asynchronous hybrid courses for students.

Lisa Smith, Director of Development, School of Engineering, said the fundraising campaign was born from the need for more surveying professionals. "We worked with professional partners and listened to what their needs are, [then] we created this program," Smith said. "The program is a nice balance of sponsorship from the profession, which allowed us to have the money we needed for the recruiting and marketing aspect of the [program's] launch. We are also giving benefits to the professional investors that allows them to engage with our students throughout their four or five-year higher education journey."

Smith said engagement between the professional partners and the students will help the students develop relationships within the profession before they graduate into the field.

Cabage mentioned David Sherill, program director of Surveying and Geomatics, as someone who has had a passion to work towards SIUE having the bachelor's degree program. He said the Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Association, as well as the SIUE Engineering Advisory Board have championed the program since its onset.

"Without the blessing of the SIUE Foundation and the School of Engineering Dean to move forward with this campaign, it would not have happened," Smith said. "We're grateful that they allowed us to move forward with a unique approach to grow enrollment."

Cabage said a long-term goal is to establish SIUE's program as the premier surveying and geomatics program. He also highlighted that many companies are offering students internship and job shadowing opportunities as early as after their freshman year.

"We're working with admissions and marketing to make sure we spend the money wisely and to make sure our marketing collateral meets university standards," Cabage said. "It's been a lot of work and there's a lot more to do, but it has been promising."

PHOTO: John Cabage, PhD, associate professor and Chair of the Construction Management program, and Lisa Smith, Director of Development, School of Engineering