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History of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering

Auburn University is the oldest four-year, coeducational school in the state of Alabama, and second oldest in the Southeast. It is chartered as a land-grant institution.

The university has always been known as Auburn, a name taken by the Lee County community from the Oliver Goldsmith poem, "The Deserted Village." The poem includes the line, "Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain." However, the institution has had four official names: East Alabama Male College, Agricultural and Mechanical College, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, and presently, Auburn University.

Engineering has long been an important part of Auburn. In October, 1872 the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama awarded its first degrees, including four bachelor's, two master's and one professional degree in civil engineering awarded to W.E. Horne - one of the first engineering degrees to be awarded by a Southern institution.

Today, the college offers the state's largest engineering program, and is home to nine departments, offering 14 majors, and 12 research centers. It is responsible for approximately half of the university's annual research expenditures. 

Auburn University consistently ranks in the nation's top 20 engineering programs in the number of students we graduate. Our undergraduate enrollment for fall 2006 was 2,815 and graduate enrollment 670.  The 2007 U.S. News & World Report ranked Auburn's undergraduate engineering program 33rd and the graduate program 46th among the nation's public universities. Auburn Engineering ranks 17th nationally in number of bachelor's degrees awarded to African-Americans.

The university offers the nation's first and only bachelor's degree in wireless engineering, graduating the first students in 2004. It is the first program in the Southeast to offer bachelor's and master's degrees in software engineering.

Auburn Engineering students comprise approximately 25 percent of those who graduate with honors university-wide and 80 percent of co-op students. Beyond the classroom, students gain hands-on, real-world experience on student competition teams for Formula SAE race cars, SAE Mini Baja all-terrain vehicles, and SAE Aero Design unmanned aerial vehicles.

Research areas include transportation technology, food safety, materials processing, information technology, wireless engineering, aerospace engineering, bioprocess/environmental engineering, highway/asphalt technology, microelectronics, vehicle electronics, fiber technology, pulp and paper, occupational safety and ergonomics, and technology management.  This research powers the local, state, regional and national economies. Employers tell us that our emphasis on fundamentals, hands-on engineering and a strong work ethic sets Auburn engineering graduates apart as leaders in the workplace and the community.
In 2001, the college was renamed the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, in honor of Samuel Ginn's $25 million gift to College of Engineering

The college recently completed renovations of two historic buildings: Ross Hall and Wilmore Laboratories. Construction of the new $108 M Sen. Richard C. and Dr. Annette N. Shelby Center for Engineering Technology is well under way.   Phase I is slated for completion in Fall 2007, and Phase II in Fall 2010.