Capital Area Chapter of PSAA

On January 3, 1896, the Board of Trustees established the School of Engineering at Penn State. There were 143 students enrolled at that time.  Over the next 125 years, the Penn State College of Engineering would grow to become one of the nation’s top ranked schools (#22 according to 2021 U.S. News & World Report) with an enrollment of over 11,000 students! 

Originally The Farmer’s High School, the Pennsylvania State University became one of the nation’s first and Pennsylvania’s only land grant institution in 1863.   Focusing on mostly agriculture throughout its early years, various presidents and faculty dabbled in providing engineering education, though nothing was

formally accepted for several years.  It wasn’t until Joseph Shortlidge became president in 1880 when he saw the formation of the Wickersham Committee

to assist with reform needed to help the College satisfy the needs of the nation’s most industrialized state. One professor on the panel was Thornton Osmond, professor of physics, who launched his own unofficial reorganization study.  The proposed curriculum included six courses of study: two “general” (scientific

and classical), four “technical” (agricultural, natural history, chemistry, physics, and civil engineering), and practicums in the mechanic arts. This proposal

was accepted by the trustees, who named Louis A. Barnard, a highly experienced civil engineer, to head the department of Civil Engineering.  

The appointment of George Atherton as president in 1882 created an era of extraordinary growth for Penn State. Top priority was given to enlarging the engineering program.  All students now took identical coursework during their freshman and sophomore years, with a specialization in engineering reserved for their junior and senior years.  Despite the improvements to the civil engineering curriculum, Atherton knew that further evolution was needed. He asked Louis Reber, a mathematics instructor, to attend MIT for graduate work in mechanical engineering — and to pay particular attention to the processes and procedures used for engineering education — in order to advance Penn State’s two-year mechanic arts program into a four-year Mechanical Engineering curriculum.  Thornton Osmond also issued recommendations that Electrical Engineering be pulled from the physics department  into its own department in 1887 and Atherton approved this request.  The revised engineering curricula proved popular: of the 113 students enrolled for the 1888-89 academic year, over 42% were in engineering (22 mechanical, 17 civil, 9 electrical).  The growing popularity of the engineering department also required physical growth of the campus. In 1891, $100,000 was allotted to construct a building devoted entirely to engineering, aptly named Main Engineering (the name was later changed to Sackett Building).  Main Engineering housed four engineering departments: civil, mechanical, mining, and electrical.

Main Engineering Building, 1892

In 1896, President Atherton formally established the School of Engineering  and in 1900, Louis Reber became the first dean of the School of Engineering, which included the Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineering departments. 

By the early 1900’s, Penn State engineering graduates were helping society and were in high demand in leading firms such as General Electric, Westinghouse and the Pennsylvania Railroad.  In 1893, the first woman to earn a Bachelors of Engineering was awarded to Carrie McElwain and in 1933, the first African American to earn an engineering degree was Benson Dutton.

Besides Civil Engineering (currently ranked 13th in the country), Mechanical Engineering (ranked 12th) and Electrical Engineering (ranked 18th), the beginnings of several other programs are listed as follows: 

1908 – Industrial Engineering: The industrial engineering program at Penn State was founded by Hugo Diemer, a pioneer in the field. Diemer coined

the term “industrial engineering” in 1900 to describe the fusion of engineering and business disciplines.  Industrial Engineering at PSU currently ranks

number 7 in the country.

1910 - Architectural Engineering: Penn State Trustees approved the creation of architectural engineering in the School of Engineering. Widely acknowledged as one of the top Architectural Engineering programs in the world, the Penn State Architectural Engineering Department is the oldest, continuously accredited architectural engineering program in the United States. 

1948 - Chemical Engineering: The roots of chemical engineering at Penn State can be traced to the formation of the chemistry program in 1888.  In 1924, the first curriculum in chemical engineering at Penn State was introduced.  In 1948, the department of chemical engineering was officially recognized, and was separated from the department of chemistry. 

1961 - Aerospace Engineering: The Penn State Department of Aerospace Engineering is the only aerospace engineering department in Pennsylvania and is consistently recognized as one of the top aerospace engineering departments in the nation. 

2000 - Biomedical Engineering: The undergraduate program was established upon the success of Penn State’s first Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in bioengineering established in 1974.  In 1976, the department gained great acclaim when its pneumatic left ventricular assist device was successfully implanted in a human patient. At the time, it was the first successful procedure of its kind to have ever been recorded and it is still being used today.

Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building, 2019

The College of Engineering at University Park also includes the following 4 year degrees: Biological Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Computational Data Sciences, Engineering Science, and Nuclear Engineering.  Penn State offers numerous engineering degree programs in other Colleges as well - please use the link below to view the complete list:

https://www.engr.psu.edu/assets/docs/advising-degrees-and-map.pdf

Today the College of Engineering at Penn State graduates about 2500 engineers every year.  It is estimated that at least one out of every fifty engineers in the United States received their bachelor's degree from Penn State.  

Happy 125th Anniversary to the College!

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