Mechanical Engineering Department History

Mechanical engineering at the University of Arkansas (originally called Arkansas Industrial University) began like many other departments with faculty members that taught a variety of courses for the first couple of decades.

The courses were often called “Mechanic Arts” and taught by superintendents and instructors, few of whom had actual college degrees. By the turn of the 20th century, though, mechanical engineering, along other disciplines, had become a distinct department.

The Arkansas Industrial University was founded in 1871 and held its first commencement on June 27, 1872, with Noah Putnam Gates as Acting President. As a land grant college, engineering education was in the early plans of the university. In his inaugural address in on July 3, 1874, president Albert W. Bishop outlined the plan of the Board of Trustees for a university containing four colleges with thirteen subordinate departments, including a Mechanical Engineering Department. The outline may well have been the first recorded mention of a mechanical engineering program specifically.

Although the Morrill Act (1862) enabled states such as Arkansas to establish engineering instruction, strong programs did not develop in many parts of the country until the early 1890s. Educators were undecided about the amount of funding that should be directed towards such programs, probably because high demand for mechanical engineers and other technical professionals did not exist in Arkansas and the region. So, the lack of cohesiveness and direction during the early history of engineering at the University of Arkansas was not uncommon at many American universities.

The First Degree and Establishment of the Department

By the late 1880s, the University administration and state lawmakers began to consider the improvements in the mechanical engineering program. Development of the mechanic arts was one of the main objectives of the University, and since good shop facilities were useful in maintaining the university plant as well as for instruction of students, the mechanical engineering area received considerable support earlier than other engineering programs. In 1889 the state legislature appropriated $7,000 for mechanical engineering laboratory equipment, in addition to the $2,500 made available by the Board of Trustees. At that time, the laboratories were located in the north end of the University Hall (now called Old Main) basement. The 1889 legislature also appropriated $5,000 for a shop building to house the engineering laboratories. By 1894, equipment included a 30 horsepower Corliss steam engine, a 60,000 pound tensile testing machine, and considerable shop equipment. In 1891, the University awarded the first BME degree to Mack Martin. Dr. Charles V. Kerr, a mechanical engineer, chaired the Engineering Department from 1891 until 1896 when George M. Peek succeed him. Also in 1896, the Board of Trustees voted to create two departments from what had been one. The Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Departments began to function separately after having been grouped together under Mechanical Arts and Engineering.

Twentieth Century

Before the turn of the 20th century, professors from various departments taught in the mechanical engineering program, but that would change, as the department would begin to retain professors and instructors for many years in the first half of the 20th century. Department heads such as Birton N. Wilson and Russell G. Paddock would set the example of commitment required to run a stable program. After the end of World War II, the program began to adjust to accommodate the competitiveness that developed between the United States and the Soviet Union by adjusting programs to offer courses in new ways.

Curriculum would only be part of that adjustment as the College of Engineering competed for public and private money to begin supplemental institutes and construct additional buildings for research. After moving into its own building in the 1960s, the mechanical engineering program successfully developed into one that balanced the needs of faculty research with the needs of both undergraduate and graduate students.

Twenty-first Century

During Fall 2003, William F Schmidt announced that he would end a 19 year tenure as Department Head, effective July 2004, but would remain as a ME faculty member. New Engineering Dean Ashok Saxena began the process of searching for his replacement and hired current Department Head Joseph Rencis. The College and Mechanical Engineering are beginning a new era.

This new era begins with a number of growing research programs. The ME Department has programs in materials and manufacturing, micro/nanotechnology, space/planetary sciences, and energy systems in the million dollar range. These programs will greatly expand the graduate student population and produce more PhD graduates who will start high technology companies in the state.

With strong support from engineers across the state and groups such as the Arkansas Academy of Mechanical Engineers, the Mechanical Engineering program is set to accomplish even more great things over the next 100 hundred years and beyond. The technical aspects of the program at the start of the new millennium would have been impossible for the early professors to have envisioned, but they established a solid foundation on which to build. Throughout the years, the department always maintained a balance between faculty and facilities, never allowing one to surpass the other. The work had definitely paid off by the new millennium as students continued to achieve new heights.