History
Old Masters
The CEE at Illinois story is filled with many great engineers and many of our early faculty are historical figures in their own right. For more than 150 years, CEE faculty have led the way in research, teaching and real-world works.
Read more about some of the most notable faculty figures from CEE's past.
CEE: History and Heritage
In 2003, CEE Professor Emeritus John D. Haltiwanger wrote a series of three articles for the CEE alumni newsletter on the history of the department. He divided the task into three historical periods: the founding of the department and its early years from 1867-1926; the Whitney C. Huntington Years from 1926-1956; and the Newmark Years from 1956-1973.
Haltiwanger passed away in 2008. His articles are presented here as PDF files.
Early Women of CEE
From Mary Thelma Miller, the first woman to graduate from CEE at Illinois (in 1933), to Judith Liebman, the first woman professor in the department, trailblazing women have paved the way for new generations of engineers. In the 2017-2018 academic year, more than one-third of the incoming freshman class was comprised of young women. Read more about some of these earliest women of the department, along with stories from a few alumnae who came later.
Making History
Learn about some of the (occasionally unexpected) ways that CEE alumni have made their mark during the first 150 years of the department's history.