More Than 120 Future Engineers and Aviators Explore LeTourneau at Engineering & Aaviation Preview Day
Families from 18 states visit as civil engineering earns a No. 15 national ranking and two major facility projects move forward
More than 120 prospective students and their families visited LeTourneau University on Oct. 24 for Engineering & Aviation Preview Day, a daylong look at two of the Christian Polytechnic University's flagship programs. Guests traveled from 18 states, from California and Washington to New York and Florida.
After opening remarks in the Belcher Center, future engineers spent the day in LeTourneau classrooms and labs. Future aviators headed to the Paul and Betty Abbott Aviation Center at East Texas Regional Airport for flight simulators, career conversations and flights over Longview. Parents attended their own sessions in the afternoon.
"My encouragement to you today is very simple: Be curious, ask questions, meet people," said Kristine Slate, Associate Vice President for Admissions. "I hope you'll begin to ask yourself one important question: Can I see myself here? Is this a place I can call home? Today isn't simply about discovering what LeTourneau has to offer. It's about imagining what your future could look like as part of our community."
Dr. Steven D. Mason, who joined the LETU faculty in 2006 and became the university's seventh president in 2021, told families the university understands the weight of their decision.
"We know it can be an anxious time. It can be an exciting time," Mason said. "We appreciate the time and effort and prayer and wisdom that goes into making this kind of a decision, and considering where you might spend the next four years of your life. It's no small thing."
Mason also described what it means to study at the Christian Polytechnic University, where every discipline engages the technology shaping the world." Just because you can build it, should you?" he said. "Not just what can I do with this technology, but what is it also doing to me? Throughout our classes on this campus, we feel it's really important to ask these questions."
A season of wins
The visit followed U.S. News & World Report's 2027 Best Colleges rankings, 
which placed LeTourneau's civil engineering program No. 15 in the nation among institutions whose highest engineering degree is a bachelor's or master's. That field includes Harvey Mudd College, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Cooper Union and the U.S. Military, Naval and Air Force academies. LeTourneau is the only member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities among them. The university's undergraduate engineering program also climbed six spots to No. 32 among programs at institutions that do not offer doctorates.
On the aviation side, Mason pointed to a recent result at the Air Race Derby, a timed test of skill and speed over five legs of at least 65 nautical miles each. Two LETU teams finished first and second in a field that included Purdue University and Kent State University.
Room to grow
Both programs are expanding their facilities to keep pace with demand. Construction continues on the Abbott Aviation Center expansion, which broke ground in August 2025. The project adds a 16,000-square-foot hangar, five new labs, a 55-foot sky deck, and expanded flight simulation and operations space.
"We are bursting at the seams," Mason said of the current facility. "We need more lab space and more coverage for our 28 airplanes."
On the main campus, crews are building the $52 million Christian Polytechnic University Center, which broke ground April 17, 2026. The four-story building will house engineering, business, entrepreneurship and computer science, and is funded entirely by donors through the university's Build With Purpose campaign. It is slated to open in summer 2028.
"It's going to be super exciting — cutting-edge lab spaces — and it's going to be your students' playground to get their hands dirty and do some amazing things in that space," Mason told parents.
The Build With Purpose campaign has reached $174 million in gifts and pledges toward its $180 million goal, Mason said.
He closed by speaking directly to the students in the room. "We've never had you on campus before — your talents, your passion, your faith, your courage, your determination," Mason said. "That's why Bonnie and I get excited for every new class."
Students interested in engineering or aviation at LeTourneau can schedule a campus visit at letu.edu/visit.
