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Our History
On March 4, 1873, Civil Engineering was approved as a 4-year degree program at the University of Iowa. That makes 2023 our 150th anniversary! We have a remarkable past and are still going strong!
- March 4, 1873
Civil Engineering is approved as a 4-year degree program at the University of Iowa.
- 1873
Civil Engineering started out in the Mathematics Department in 1873.
- 1896
Course requirements for the 3rd and 4th years of Civil Engineering curriculum
- 1901
Classes resume in a temporary structure on the South Hall site, designed and constructed in 14 days with the help of the senior engineering class.
- 1901
South Hall, home to engineering, burns to the ground on March 10, 1901.
- 1905
We join the College of Applied Sciences when it is formed, which later becomes the College of Engineering (1927).
- 1905
Envisioned as the start of an Engineering Quadrangle, the first phase of the Engineering Building is constructed (1915 photo).
- 1912
Archibald Alexander, the first engineering graduate to become a member of the Distinguished Engineering Alumni, earns Civil Engineering degree.
- 1914
The Homecoming Corn Monument tradition, started by engineering students, begins on the Pentacrest.
- 1936
The Civil Engineering program is first accredited by ABET in 1936.
- 2001
The Engineering Building is renamed the Seamans Center for the Engineering Arts and Sciences with a major addition.
- 2014
After a hiatus of over 20 years, the CEE students revive the Corn Monument tradition on the Pentacrest for Homecoming.
- 2017
Our new Environmental Engineering program is approved in 2017 and is later accredited in 2021.
- 2019
The Annex addition to the Seamans Center is completed.
- 2023
The graduating class of Civil and Environmental Engineers, 150-years after the start of Civil Engineering program at Iowa.