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!

  • male students on very old photograph
    March 4, 1873

    Civil Engineering is approved as a 4-year degree program at the University of Iowa.

  • old photos of several engineering students
    1873

    Civil Engineering started out in the Mathematics Department in 1873.

  • 1896
    1896

    Course requirements for the 3rd and 4th years of Civil Engineering curriculum

  • 1901
    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_1
    1901

    South Hall, home to engineering, burns to the ground on March 10, 1901.

  • face of man partially obsurced by telescope in black and white
    1905

    We join the College of Applied Sciences when it is formed, which later becomes the College of Engineering (1927).

  • 1905
    1905

    Envisioned as the start of an Engineering Quadrangle, the first phase of the Engineering Building is constructed (1915 photo).

  • 1912
    1912

    Archibald Alexander, the first engineering graduate to become a member of the Distinguished Engineering Alumni, earns Civil Engineering degree.

  • 1914
    1914

    The Homecoming Corn Monument tradition, started by engineering students, begins on the Pentacrest.

  • students in classroom in the 1930s
    1936

    The Civil Engineering program is first accredited by ABET in 1936.

  • 2001
    2001

    The Engineering Building is renamed the Seamans Center for the Engineering Arts and Sciences with a major addition.

  • 2014
    2014

    After a hiatus of over 20 years, the CEE students revive the Corn Monument tradition on the Pentacrest for Homecoming.

  • female student smiling wearing white lab coat and holding a chemistry beaker
    2017

    Our new Environmental Engineering program is approved in 2017 and is later accredited in 2021.

  • 2019
    2019

    The Annex addition to the Seamans Center is completed.

  • 2023
    2023

    The graduating class of Civil and Environmental Engineers, 150-years after the start of Civil Engineering program at Iowa.