Tsquare decorated by the CAEE Class of 1898

Department History

Over 100 Years in the Making

More than a century ago, our department was formally organized as the first department in the College of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. Today, we are a nationally recognized engineering program with one of the largest civil engineering departments in the country.

A Brief History of Texas CAEE

1880s

  • – The University of Texas opens for classes
  • – First engineering degree from UT awarded to William H.P. Hunnicut in civil engineering

1890s

  • – First B.S. in civil engineering is awarded to Eugene Schoch from Department of Engineering
  • – UT College of Engineering officially established

1900s

  • – Second instructor of civil engineering, Edward C. H. Bantel, hired to teach railroad engineering
  • – Department of Civil Engineering established

1920s

  • – Student chapter of American Society of Civil Engineers is formed at UT Austin (one of the first to be established in the U.S.)
  • – First M.S. in civil engineering awarded to J. Guiton Morgan
  • – Edward C. H. Bantel appointed chairman of Department of Civil Engineering
  • – First B.S. in architectural engineering awarded
  • – Phil M. Ferguson joins department faculty as associate professor in materials and structures
  • – John A. Focht joins department as professor in highway engineering

1930s

  • – Raymond Dawson establishes a soils lab in the Bureau of Engineering at UT Austin
  • – John A. Focht appointed chairman of Department of Civil Engineering
  • – Sanitary engineering is accredited by Engineering Council for Professional Engineering
  • – Soil mechanics added to undergraduate Civil Engineering program
  • – Alumna Leah Moncure (B.S. civil engineering, 1937) is first woman register as an engineer in Texas

1940s

  • – Phil M. Ferguson appointed chairman of Department of Civil Engineering
  • – Department of Architectural Engineering founded
  • – Werner Dornberger becomes first full-time faculty member in architectural engineering
  • – James Pollard appointed first chairman of Department of Architectural Engineering

1950s

  • – Ph.D. program in civil engineering established
  • – J. Neils Thompson establishes Structural Mechanics Research Laboratory
  • – First Ph.D. in civil engineering awarded to Earl Brown II

1960s

  • – Franklin B. Johnson appointed chairman of Department of Architectural Engineering
  • – Sanitary engineering program renamed to environmental health engineering
  • – Center for Highway Research established; Clyde E. Lee appointed first director
  • – Alumnus Ervin S. Perry (M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering) becomes first African American faculty member at UT Austin
  • – Atmospheric Science Group becomes part of Department of Civil Engineering
  • – Department of Architectural Engineering merges with Department of Civil Engineering

1970s

  • – Water Resources Building at Balcones Research Center completed
  • – Alumnus Earnest F. Gloyna (M.S. in civil engineering, 1949) becomes dean of College of Engineering at UT Austin
  • – Graduate program in construction engineering and project management created
  • – Ernest Cockrell Jr. building (ECJ) completed and becomes new home for Department of Civil Engineering
  • – Center for Energy and Environmental Resources is established

1980s

  • – Structural Engineering Laboratory named after former chair and professor Phil M. Ferguson
  • – Offshore Technology Research Center funded by National Science Foundation
  • – Construction Industry Institute established

1990s

  • – Balcones Research Center named after congressman J. J. Pickle
  • – Center for Construction Industry Studies established
  • – Texas Institute for the Indoor Environment established

2000s

  • – Commons Building at J.J. Pickle Research Campus named after J. Neils Thompson
  • – Civil and Architectural Engineering Academy of Distinguished Alumni established
  • – Civil engineering makes its first appearance in the U.S. News & World Report’s top-ten national ranking of engineering programs
  • – Department of Civil Engineering officially renamed the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

2010s

  • – Richard L. Corsi appointed chair of Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
  • – Robert Gilbert appointed chair of Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

2020s

  • – Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering officially named the Fariborz Maseeh Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering in honor of Maseeh’s decades of outstanding service to Texas Engineering and the engineering community