College of Engineering, University of Idaho - November 07, 2009
Centennial 1907 - 2007 College of Engineering
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Historical Events in University of Idaho College of Engineering History
1907-1957
1907
Degrees in Chemical Engineering were approved and authorized through a joint Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Dr. Carl von Ende served as the first Chairman of the Department from 1908 to 1934.
The College of Engineering was first established in cooperation with the College of Mines.
October 27, 1911
The Board of Regents formally created the College of Engineering, as we know it today. Charles Newton Little was appointed the first Dean of the College of Engineering.
1914-1915
Electrical Engineering Department installed a wireless telegraph to use for the study of Radio Engineering.
September, 1917
John C. Wooley was the first faculty person hired with specific duties in regular course instruction in Agricultural Engineering.
1918
With encouragement from the Idaho Department of Highways, the Engineering Testing Laboratory was completed.
May 23, 1922
The first Engineering honorary society, Society of Sigma Tau, was organized at the University of Idaho as the Rho chapter, the fourteenth chapter in the United States of this national honorary society.
1924
The first M.S. degree in the College of Engineering was granted in Mechanical Engineering to Phillip Alexander Robertson.
1924
The Engineers' Show was started with Engineering Departments and other disciplines presenting demonstrations of Engineering principles, of laboratory equipment, and of models of Engineering achievements. It was considered a "...spectacular arrangement of mystifying electrical phenomena ever presented on the Idaho campus."
May, 1924
The College of Engineering publishes the first issue of the Idaho Engineer.
October, 1924
The first Engineering Smoker was held in the old Armory with boxing matches, feats of physical prowess, and refreshments. Contests with slide rules or "slip sticks" and professor roasts became common at these events until they ended in the early 1960's.
1928
With encouragement from the State Department of Public Works, the Engineering Experiment Station was started.
April, 1929
The first Engineering Experiment Station Bulletin was published, which became a channel for disseminating experimental results.
April 1, 1929
The Academic Council recommends a new curriculum to be administered jointly by the Colleges of Agriculture and Engineering that will lead to a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering.
June, 1930
The first two Professional Degrees were conferred in June, 1930 to Civil Engineers, Isaac N. Carter and Carey Reign Black.
1938
Grace Fenton Robertson becomes the first woman to graduate from the College of Engineering.
1938
The Associated Engineers held the first Engineers' Ball as a celebration of St. Patrick's Day.
1941
Unit No. 1 of the Kirtley Engineering Laboratory is dedicated in memory of Dr. C.L. Kirtley, one of the first four graduates of the University of Idaho in 1896.
September, 1946
College of Engineering Dean Jesse E. Buchanan becomes the tenth President of the University of Idaho - the first President who was also an alumnus.
1947
College of Engineering proposes two of the first 10 projects in the newly established University-wide Special Research Council.
June 3, 1951
Unit No. 2 of the Kirtley Engineering Laboratory and Unit No. 1 of the Engineering Classroom Building are dedicated. The Engineering Classroom Building was renamed the Janssen Engineering Building in honor of long-time Dean Allen S. Janssen.
September, 1954
Dean Janssen creates the Department of Freshman Engineering to allow graduate assistants to administer the freshman courses common to all courses of Engineering Study.
1956
Under the aggressive leadership of Dr. Melbourne L. Jackson, the Chemical Engineering Department of the College of Engineering offered training towards a Ph.D. degree.
1957
Dean Janssen formed a special committee to examine the way the College was teaching basic courses. The result was the designation of the "Engineering Science Section" of the College curriculum and each Department contributing a faculty position to teach the Engineering Science courses.