History of the Ohio State College of Engineering
Ohio State’s College of Engineering began in 1873, when the Department of Mathematics and Engineering was established as one of the seven original departments at the newly created land-grant institution. And since the first engineering degrees were awarded in 1880, Ohio State has been an international leader in engineering education. The College of Engineering currently has more than 50,000 graduates throughout the world, practicing engineering and architecture and improving the lives of millions around the globe.
In 1879, the Department of Mining and Metallurgy was established, followed by the departments of Mechanical Engineering in 1881, Civil Engineering in 1885 and Electrical Engineering in 1889. In 1882, the School of Engineering was instituted, and in 1895, the College of Engineering was established, with Nathaniel Lord as its first dean.
The Department of Ceramics was created in 1896, the Department of Industrial (Arts) Engineering started in 1898, and in 1899, a four year curriculum in Architecture was established.
Among the most dramatic entrances onto campus occurred in 1917, when Ohio State trustee and engineering graduate Charles F. Kettering arrived for a Board of Trustees meeting in a Wright-Dayton biplane, landing on the oval in this still-new mode of transportation. In 1930, an honorary degree was conferred upon Orville Wright for his contributions to society, and in 1939 the Ohio State School of Aviation was begun, as part of the College of Engineering. The Department of Aeronautical Engineering was established soon after, in 1943.
The Department of Welding Engineering was created in 1947, the first such program in the country. Our Welding Engineering program remains today as the nation's only ABET accredited welding program.
The College of Engineering administrative building, Hitchcock Hall, was constructed in 1967, and in 1968 Dreese Laboratory and Baker Systems Building were completed, just in time for the creation of the Department of Computer and Information Science. In 1971, Ohio State’s Biomedical Engineering Center was created.
The Departments of Ceramics and Metallurgy combined in 1989 to become the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
In 1994, the School of Architecture was renamed the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture, and in 2004, the new Knowlton Hall was opened to students. The new home of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Peter and Clara Scott Laboratory, was completed in 2007.
