Our History
Much has changed since we were the Colorado Agricultural College 150 years ago. The land-grant mission of the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering – teaching, research, and outreach as well as monitoring the weather – remains the same.
“As we get older, I think it’s natural to think about the generations that will follow. And in a technological age, it’s important that our top students have the opportunity to study at strong research universities.”
Walter Scott, Jr., 2017
Alumni, Civil Engineering, 1953
Our Timeline
"We need to be motivated by service as well as by profit. We serve best by finding out what people want and helping them work to realize their dreams."
Maurice Albertson
Professor, civil engineering
1879: Classes begin at the State Agricultural College of Colorado; Ainsworth Blount is appointed professor of mechanical arts
Max Parshall at the CSU weather station, first added in 1880
1880s: Early view of Old Main
1895: mechanical shop
1896: Grafton St. Clair Norman: CSU's first African-American student
A view an an early electrical lab 1912
1922: Ralph Parshall receives patent for his modifications on the Venturi flume (Parshall flume)
1930: The hydraulics and irrigation programs were taught for many years in what is now Statistics
1953: AR Chamberlain, later CSU President received the College of Engineering's first PhD
1954: International exchange program begins with University of Peshawar
The Engineering Center opened in 1957
1960: Maurice Albertson and Pauline Birky initiate a feasibility study and pilot program leading to creation of the Peace Corps.
1963: The Engineering Research Center on the Foothills Campus
ATS building dedication 1967
Magda Bogardi, the first woman to receive a master's degree in engineering from CSU in 1967.
1967: A professor is teaching a class that is also being taped for the SURGE program. SURGE (State University Resources in Graduate Education) was a program that allowed off-campus students to earn Masters degrees through video courses.
1974: Construction of solar village begins
1990: CSU-CHILL
2013: Suzanne and Walter Scott, Jr. Bioengineering Building
1953 civil engineering alumnus Walter Scott, Jr. became the largest donor in the university’s history with a $64.2 million gift.
The Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning Research Team at the center kickoff meeting, Fort Collins, Colorado, April 10, 2015
2020: The state’s first public hydrogen fuel station is unloaded in front of the CSU Energy Institute at the Powerhouse Energy Campus.
Geraldine Richmond, the DOE undersecretary for science and innovation, spoke at the groundbreaking event for the Advanced Technology Lasers for Applications and Science (ATLAS) Facility in 2024.
2025-2028: Initial concept of the Don and Susie Law Engineering Future Technologies Building, part of the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering at Colorado State University.
- Founded in 1961 by renowned tropical meteorologist Professor Herbert Riehl.
- Officially recognized as a department in March 1962.
- Explore the department’s history page here.
- Chemical engineering program launched in 1977.
- Read about many of the department’s alumni, starting with the 1930’s and 1940’s.
- First established in 1980 as a partnership between CSU and NOAA.
- Read about CIRA’s $128 million cooperative agreement with NOAA, renewed in 2019.
- 1902-1903 – First Electrical Engineering courses appear in the university catalogue and efforts to organize a department are made by L.D. Crain.
- 1907-1908 – Course catalogs first acknowledge the availability of a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering
- 1879 – Classes begin at the State Agricultural College of Colorado; Ainsworth Blount is appointed professor of mechanical arts.
- 1883 – Colorado Agricultural College rolled out its first mechanical engineering courses on such things as “steam engine structure” and “transmission of power.”
- Officially established in 2000 as an interdisciplinary program.
- Fully established as a school in academic year 2007-2008.
- Read about SBME’s 10th anniversary here on Source.
- Established as a program in 2008.
- Systems Engineering became a department in the college in 2019.
- Read about System’s 10th anniversary here on Source.