Our Heritage . . .
1856 - East Alabama Male College is chartered - 1869 - Offers course in civil engineering within School of Sciences
- 1872 - Becomes Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama; College of Engineering
founded; awards degree of civil engineering to W.E. Horne, believed to be one
of first engineering degrees granted by a southern institution of higher education
- 1886 - Five-horsepower Weston electric generator installed in Langdon Hall basement,
lighting engineering shops and, eventually, the town of Auburn
- 1891 - Establishes electrical and mechanical department; offers South's first
electrical engineering course; faculty pioneers x-ray technology and makes one
of its first applications to medicine
- 1899 - Becomes Alabama Polytechnic Institute, affirming commitment to teach mechanics
as a cornerstone of institution's mission
- 1913 - Thomas Edison's chief engineer, Auburn alum Miller Reese Hutchison, donates
wireless telegraph, prompting course offering in wireless telegraphy
- 1923 - Maria Rogan Whitson earns bachelor's degree in electrical engineering,
making her the institution's first female engineering graduate
- 1925-1959 - First five facilities comprising Engineering Quad constructed: Dunstan,
Ramsay, Ross, Textile and Wilmore
- 1960 - Becomes Auburn University
- 1984 - Establishes computer science and software department
- 1984-1986 - Two new facilities constructed for Engineering Quad: Broun Hall and
Harbert Engineering Center
- 1999 - Offers Southeast's first bachelor's and master's degrees in software engineering
- 2001 - College of Engineering named for alumnus Samuel Ginn, wireless pioneer
who gave the college $25 million ¾ among the largest cash gifts in the history
of Alabama higher education and the largest single gift in Auburn University's
150-year history
- 2002 - Offers nation's first wireless engineering degree; Wilmore Laboratories
renovated to state-of-the-art laboratory and administrative complex
- 2003 - Becomes only Alabama university to offer a fiber engineering program -
one of only four nationally accredited programs of its kind
- 2004 - Graduates inaugural class of nation's first wireless engineering program
- 2006 - Textile Engineering renamed Polymer and Fiber Engineering; Construction
of new Shelby Center for Engineering Technology underway; Dedication of new renovated
Ross Hall
