Utah-based computer science school to open in East

Four-and-a-half years ago, Graham Doxey and two partners worked out a plan on a white board for a specialized computer science school to be based in Utah.

Now Doxey, who is president of Neumont University in Salt Lake City, is planning to open a second campus — in Dulles, Va. The announcement was made today.

"We founded the university to pioneer a higher standard in computer science education," he said. "Our success is evidenced by the fact that employers are paying a 20 percent premium to the national average in our first-year of graduates."

Neumont averages just under 300 students at any one time, representing 45 states and 10 different countries. Its accelerated two-year bachelor's degree program has drawn so much attention that it's imperative they open a new campus, Doxey said.

"Global demand continues to grow beyond what our original Utah-based campus alone can supply," he said. When the curriculum was born, Doxey said officials from some of the largest software development employers — including IBM, Microsoft and CA — helped to plan courses that would cater to their needs.

"The skills we're focused on are higher than what is available coming out of the educational system," he said. Neumont has graduated 98 percent of its applicants, and Doxey said job placement rates are as high as they can go.

"There are more people employed in IT today than ever before in history," he said. After two years of courses from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., five days a week, costing a total of about $72,000, students can expect at least two or three job offers that average a $60,000 annual salary, according to statistics from the university. Neumont has placed more than 100 graduates into the work force since its opening in 2002.

"There are a lot more students who want to do this," Doxey said. "The job market is huge."

Northern Virginia happens to be a mecca of information technology firms, and Neumont officials believe there are more than 200,000 jobs available there, which is why they chose to open a campus in Dulles.

"Dulles, and the Washington, D.C.-metropolitan area, is one of the leading technology centers on the East Coast," said Tom Mehalko, director for Neumont's Dulles campus. "We look forward forward to working with many of the companies in the D.C.-metro area and to introducing them to Neumont's skilled computer science students."

The application process for the new campus has already begun, and the doors are scheduled to open in July. Doxey said plans for a third campus elsewhere in the United States are under way.