__j The College of Engineering in the First Hundred Years of The Ohio State University by J. Merrill Weed September, 1969 I I Subject: TEE COLLEGE OF ENGDJEERI.tm n: THE FI'tST 100 YEARS OF ThE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY Length: Approximately -!0,008 words Completion date: May 1969 Outli:1e: I. The First Quarter Century--Before the College of Engineering was established, 1870-1895 A. The place of ":Mechanics" in The Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College a. Breadth in Education ••• Training "Engineers" rather than 11Eechanics 11 or technicians b. Engineering subjects in the curriculum: (1) Physics and mechanics (2) Mathewatics, astronomy, surveying, and civil engineering (3) Geology and }~ining (4) Applied chemistry B. Engineering in the early Ohio state University, 1878-1895 a. Eneineerinz in the School of the Exact Sciences b. The School of Enzineering C. Activities and service of graduates and faculty II. The Second Quarter Century -- 1895-1920 A. The College of Engineerinc, 1895-1920 a. Ad.irinistration (1) Dean N. w. Lord, 1895-1901 (2) Dean C. N. Brown, 1901-1902 (3) Dean Edward Orton, Jr., 1902-1906 (4) Dean F. A. P.ay, 1906-1908 (5) Acting Dean F. C. Caldi:-r.-:,ll, 1908-1909 (6) Acting Dean J.E. Boyd, 19:>9-1910 (7) Dean Edward Orton, Jr., 1910-1915 (8) Act in? Dean E. F. Coddinzton, 1915-1920 b. Curricula and Activities (1) :mrollment, courses, and graduates, including Arts-Enzineering (2) Proble,ns chrin? and following the first world war (3) Develo·;:)lnent of student activities, including Ohio Sta~~-_I~ngineer (L~) .::L·ects upon indu~;trial activity of the State -:,f Ohio and the Profession of Engineering B. Engineering Research, includinz establishment of the Eng:ineeri:-ig Experiment station in 1913 College of Engineering -~- III. The -Third_! ~uarter Century, 1920-194.5 A. College of Engineering, 192,)-194.5 a. Administration (1) Dean E, A. Hitchcock, 1920-1936 (2) Acting Dean w. D. Turnbull, 1937-1937 (3) Dean Charles E. Y.ac .. uigg, 1937-- (4) Junior Dean ••• Personalizinl the CClllege b. Curricula and Activities (1) Enrollment and Activities following First World War (2) Student activities: Ohio Sn7ineer, Engineers' Round-up,etc. (3) Problems during the depression of the thirties (4) Accreditation :~y the Engineers Council fCJr Professional Development (ECPD) (.5) Problerr~ during the Second world war (6) War activities of students, graduates, and staff B. Research and Training Activities (1) $gineering Experiment Stat i ·'.:ln (a.) I:1dependent appr-)priations, 1926-- (b) Engineering Experiment station Building (c) Sone projects, including cooperation with U.S. Bureau of Public H.oads, Ohio Department of Highways, etc. (2) Beginn_ngs of The Ohio State University Research Foundation (a) Field Director of the Engineering Experiment Station (b) Annual Resea:ch Conferences (c) Establishment of Research Foundation (d) "War itesearch Duildinc::" (3) Enlineering-H.esearch-Hanagement Defense Training Co•irses (4) Enginaering-Research-1-';anagement War Training Courses IV. The Fourth ~uarter C ,ntury, 1940-1970 A. The College of Enzineering since 194.5 a. Administration (1) Dean Charles E. !'1ac .. uigg, 194.5-19.52 (2) Acting Dean L. D. Jones, 19.52-19.53 (3) Dean Gordon B. Carson, 19.53-19.58 (4) Dean Harold A. Bolz, 19.58-- (.5) College organizati0n--Ass')ciate Deans and others b. Curricula and Activities (1) Adoption of the Five-year course, 194.5 (2) Enrollment and .Activities following- Second World War (J) Return to Four-Year Curriculuii:, 1968 (4) Activities of students and alu.0 ni, including ACB Day (5) Industrial and Public Service Activities of Students, Graduates, and Staff B. Research and Industrial Activities (1) Growth of Engineering Experiment Station Activities (2) Enf{ineering projects 'i..n the Research Foundation (J) Industrial and Public Serviee of Colleze and of Staff ?~embers j T"'tlE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING IN THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS OF T'tlE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY I. The First Quart~r Centu!7: Though there was no formally organized College of Engineering during the first quarter century of The Ohio State University, engineering was very much in evidence in the purposes. the name, the curriculum, and the students and graduates of the growing institution. The Morrill Act of 1862, granting land to endow these colleges in the various states, specified instruction in agriculture and the mechanic arts. The nature of the instruction intended was set forth in the name given the institution by the act passed the 22nd of March, 1870: "That a college, to be styled the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, is hereby established." In T:1e Age of Discontinui~ (Harper and Row, 1969), Peter F. Drucker, the interpreter of management science, praises the Morrill Act as a prime factor in creating today's material abundance. With particular reference to agriculture, but with applicati'Jn to technology as well, he writes: •••• What was new was the idea of converting fanning altogether from a practice into a discipline ••• This is a greater change in culture, society, and economy than most of the technological innovations we marvel at. Drucker's observation has the advantage of more than a century of hip.dsight. With remarkable prescience, however, similar sentiments were ex- pressed at the time Ohio was considering whether to accept the land grant and establish the institution of higher learning it w::>uld endow. Some of those examples of shrewd insight are quoted in the first annual report of the Board of Trustees of what was to become The Ohio State University. This report, prepared by the Board's eloquent secretary, Joseph Sullivant, covers events 2 in the college history through the year 1871, when the institution had been located and the main building was under construction but classes were more than a year in the future. It was submitted to the Governor of Ohio the 27th of February, 1872. Sullivant quoted from the "Memorial of the State Board of Agriculture in Favor of Accepting the Lands Granted by Congress 'In Aid of Instruction in Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts,' and in Favor of the Speedy Estab- lishment of an Agricultural College. 11 This memorial, adopted unanimously by the Board of Agriculture the 8th day of January, 1864, contained these observations: Many of the natural sciences are found to have such intimate relations to agriculture and the mechanic arts, that to insure the highest success, these branches of knowledge must be understood and applied. Capital or labor employed in ignorance and consequent disregard of nature's laws is thrown away; tp:e loss is sustained not only by the individual, but there is a corres-ponding loss to the State .••• At that time the Nation was fighting for its life in the Civil War. Never- theless, there was appreciation of the future. The Ohio General Assembly the 9th of February, 1864, accepted the land grant. There was actually too much optimism as regards finances. The idea was widely held that the 630,000 acres of the grant would bring in a large sum, and many localities and struggling colleges tried to get a share of it. Some favored distributing the endowment among several places. Ohio Governor John Brough, in a message early in 1865, pointed out that if the income were divided up little could be accomplished: ••• I trust you will not, under the pressure, or in the conciliation of local influences, so weaken or impair the fund as to render it comparatively valueless ••• It is evi- dent that the intention of the enact~ent is to institute a new and distinct species of education; one not heretofore favored or specially encouraged ••• The purpose to be accom- plished is tte application of that instruction to the ad- vancement of the agricultural and mechanic interests of the country ••• 3 On the 13th of April, 1865 (the day before President Lincoln was shot), the Legislature passed a law authorizing five commissioners to decide where to put the "college or colleges" and report before the end of the year. The make-up of the five commissioners was to reflect the intentions of the Morrill Act: ••• Two of whom shall be selected so as to represent the agricultural, and two representing the mechanical and manufacturing interests of the State ••• One of the said commissioners shall be selected with reference to his military knowledge. Ohio's industrial pattern influenced the report of the commissioners. They recommended "the acceptance of the proposition from Miami University" because "The great manufacturing city of Cincinnati is sufficiently near to admit of an occasional excursion to explore her busy shops and ponderous machinery." Despite this recommendation, the jockeying continued. Finally, the 22nd of March, 1870, the Legislature established the college and decreed that the Tl'ustees should select the location before the 15th of the following October. Just getting under the wire, on the 13th of October, the Trustees decided on the Neil farm north of Columbus. Secretary Sullivant concluded his historical account in that first report of the Board of Trustees with a description of the building which was under construction and to be completed in 1872. Regarding the purpose of the college, he quoted from an address on the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale: ••• To give the best attainable education in the country to young men who wish to become farmers, acquainted with the elements of the soil and the laws of animal and vegetable life; or workers in metals of any kind; or assayers; or civil engineers constructing railways, bridges, aqueducts, and pub- lic works in general; or mechanical engineers with reference to the superintendence of manufactories, the invention and construction of machinery, the application of steam, etc.; or chemists for agricultural, manufacturing and commercial purposes; or mining engineers with reference to the develop- ment of mineral wealth, the superintendence of mines, etc.; or naturalists in the direction of zoology, botany, mineralogy, or geology.