Nicholls has been chosen to become the only university in Louisiana to offer a four-year Bachelor of Science degree program in geomatics, which is expected to be initiated in the summer of 2003, pending approval from the Board of Regents.
“We are very excited about the program and think it is going to fill a long time need for the state of Louisiana. We’re committed to making this a top notch program,” Terry Dantin, professor of manufacturing technologies and petroleum services, said.
Geomatics is a new term synonymous with land surveying. The proposed degree curriculum defines surveying as “the science, art and technology of determining or establishing the relative positions of points above, on, near or beneath the earth’s surface.” Geomatics includes land surveying but also other types of information gathering such as construction surveying and surveying boundaries.
The Louisiana State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors currently requires a Bachelor of Science degree in any field plus 30 specified hours in order to meet requirements for registration as a professional land surveyor.
Nicholls currently offers those 30 hours. However, only 12 of the 30 hours required are pure surveying courses. The remaining hours are composed of mathematics, computer and real estate/finance courses.
The Board of Registration and the Louisiana Society of Professional Surveyors (LSPS) decided to increase this educational requirement to a full four year Bachelor of Science degree program in geomatics.
“There is a need for better qualified professionals in this field,” Dantin said.
“Our program (pending board approval) will be driven by the needs of the profession.”
Dave Gibson, an adviser to accreditation boards and a professional surveyor at the University of Florida, was hired as a consultant by the Board of Registration and LSPS to recommend what university would be the best school to offer a four-year geomatics degree in Louisiana. Currently no colleges in the state offer Bachelor of Science degrees in surveying or geomatics.
Gibson visited Nicholls and other Louisiana universities and solicited proposals from those interested. Nicholls prepared a proposal, which contained the full curriculum, course definitions, course outlines and suggested texts. A committee with the LSPS visited Nicholls and five other colleges in the state to review proposals in the fall of 2001. The committee contacted Nicholls again in the summer of 2002.
“They were very impressed with our proposal, and their decision was between Nicholls and Louisiana Tech,” Dantin said.
The committee returned for another visit with more emphasis on the amount of administration backing, method of finance and process of the degree program development and recruiting.
“They were satisfied with the proposed curriculum but wanted to know more about the implementation of the curriculum and how Nicholls would develop and promote the program and recruit,” Dantin said.
The committee chose Nicholls as the home for this program. The proposal must now be submitted to the Board of Regents for review. Nicholls’ presentation will be made on Dec. 6, 2002. The Board of Regents will then make the decision on whether to approve the program or not.
“I think the program is going to be very significant since it will be the only program in the state to offer this degree (pending board approval),” Grace Gueydan, dean of the college of life sciences and technology, said.
“Since Nicholls was selected from the six other Louisiana universities to have this program, we feel it will draw more students from all over the state to attend Nicholls.”
“Once the program is approved by the Board of Regents, then any person aspiring to become a registered land surveyor will have to have a Bachelor of Science degree in land surveying, and we will offer that opportunity here (pending board approval),” Dantin said.
The Geomatics degree program will be under the college of life sciences and technology and under the department of applied science. According to Dantin, the University has committed (pending board approval) to funding the program and hiring two additional faculty members, one in the Spring, 2004 and one in the Fall, 2004.
Dantin also hopes to receive assistance with donations for purchasing instruments through the LSPS and manufacturers.
Four Nicholls students are currently in the surveying program and working toward their license. According to Dantin, seven potential students have inquired about the program and have committed to taking the courses. This is without recruiting.
Nicholls cannot begin recruiting until after the Board of Regents has officially approved the program.
The degree program will educate students in the processes of measuring, recording, storing, processing, retrieving and sharing landform and spatial data. The degree will support the increasing demands by society for more data with higher standards of accuracy. Students will learn how to process the information they gather and how to present that information. Another objective of the program is to stress the understanding of other information collecting methods about the physical earth and the environment.
Geomatic graduates can go into many fields and are not limited to only land surveying. Other employment areas for graduates include construction surveying, hydrological surveying, land development, designing streets and drainage/sewage systems. Once a graduate becomes a registered professional surveyor, he may then get his own practice.
There is a four-step process to becoming a registered land surveyor. First, one must meet the educational requirement, which will be the bachelors of science degree in geomatics. Secondly, the individual must pass the Surveyor in Training qualifying exam on the basics of surveying. The individual must next serve a four-year apprenticeship under a registered land surveyor and elevate to a project management status. Another professional exam must then be passed as the final criteria in the process.
The program has been based on standards necessary for obtaining national accreditation by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. Nicholls will not be able to apply for accreditation until the program has graduates but does plan to seek accreditation in the future.
Dantin also said that if the program develops as planned, he feels that there is a possibility that in the future there will be a department of geomatics at Nicholls.
“We’re excited about this degree program and truly feel that it will greatly improve the status of the land surveyor throughout the state of Louisiana,” Dantin said.