Records of the College of Engineering

The Colorado Agricultural College (now Colorado State University) began offering classes in 1879, providing a single course of study for all students. Ainsworth Blount was appointed as professor of practical agriculture and the mechanical arts. In 1882, the department of mechanics and drawing was created at the request of incoming college president Charles Ingersoll. Frank H. Williams was hired to staff the department which he focused on the care of farm machinery. Williams was replaced by James W. Lawrence in 1883. A Hall of Mechanical Arts was opened in 1883 that housed a mechanics shop with facilities for wood and iron working.

In 1883, Elwood Mead joined the faculty and proposed a two-term course in irrigation engineering, the first in the country, which would later expand to a four course elective series. In 1886, the State Board of Agriculture (now the State Board of Governors) established a chair of physics and irrigation engineering, appointing Elwood Mead to the position. In 1889, Arthur L. Davis earned the first undergraduate engineering degree from the college.

Elwood Mead left CAC in 1888, and Louis G. Carpenter was appointed as head of physics and irrigation engineering. The first hydraulics lab on campus was built in the basement of Spruce Hall in 1893. In 1895, the irrigation engineering course was renamed civil and irrigation engineering and the department of mechanics and drawing became the department of mechanical engineering. Electrical engineering was added to the curriculum in 1903, but was dropped in 1905. After a student petition, electrical engineering was reinstated in 1907 with Charles Lory serving as professor. Ralph Parshall joined the staff of civil and irrigation engineering in 1907. The Department of Electrical Engineering awarded its first degrees in 1910.

In 1911, Edward B. House replaced Louis Carpenter as professor and head of civil and irrigation engineering. Ralph Parshall and Victor Cone designed the hydraulics laboratory for the USDA Office of Irrigation Investigations on the main campus in 1912. CAC underwent a college wide reorganization to group programs into divisions during the 1933-1934 academic year. The Division of Engineering was established with Edward B. House as dean. In 1938, Nephi A. Christensen became dean of engineering and began building a graduate research program in hydraulics and irrigation engineering. The State Board of Agriculture approved a doctorate degree in civil engineering in 1951, and three years later allowed other qualified departments to offer the advanced degree. A.R. Chamberlain, future president of the college, earned the college's first doctorate in 1955 in civil engineering.

In 1957, the college was renamed Colorado State University and the Division of Engineering became the College of Engineering. The Department of Agricultural Engineering was established in 1958 and the Department of Atmospheric Science in 1962. New centers and programs were created including the Engineering Research Center (1963), the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute (1964), the Solar Energy Applications Laboratory (1972), the Colorado Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (1980), the Center for Computer Assisted Engineering (1982), the Center for Geosciences (1986), and the Manufacturing Excellence Center (1988).

Currently, the College of Engineering is comprised of nine departments and programs: Atmospheric Science; Chemical and Biological Engineering; Civil and Environmental Engineering; Electrical and Computer Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Systems Engineering; Advanced Materials Discovery; Biomedical Engineering; and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA). The College's mission is to serve society by developing solutions to global issues that affect us all. Finding solutions in energy, human health, the environment, and world water needs; developing new technologies and systems; and generating new knowledge, the College provides purpose and an excellent education for students who want to change the world.