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Tony England, interim dean, gave a State of the College address to faculty members last semester and reached out to alumni and friends in December’s Dearborn Engineer to begin discussing that question.

“The college and campus are well on their way toward recovering from the recession,” he said. “CECS enrollments are up 16 percent since 2009, enrollment in our new bioengineering program is a year ahead of schedule and our first Ph.D. was awarded this December.”

The campus-wide goal is to reach an enrollment of 12,000 students as facilities and programs permit. England believes CECS can play a significant role in accomplishing that goal.

“Because southeast Michigan’s job growth for college graduates is projected to be particularly strong in engineering, growth of the college is a timely match for anticipated growth in demand,” he said.

The college could grow through the expansion of the current four departments, the creation of a new department such as materials engineering or a collaboration with the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters to form new degree programs in biomedical science and engineering, or environmental science and engineering.

England acknowledged that growth comes with challenges, including a demand for more courses, more class space and upgraded facilities.

“How we answer these questions—how to expand, how to invest in our labs, how to work with disciplines across campus—will define the arc of our future,” England said.