The article which follows was excerpted from the Spring 1994 issue of the Ole Miss Engineer Alumni newsletter. A few notes bringing it almost up to date may be found at the end.
In 1900, fifty-two years after the original opening of the University, the School of Engineering had its birth. Degrees in civil, general and industrial engineering were offered, all originally under the aegis of a B.S. in Engineering. For a time, a degree intermediate between the B.S. and M.S. was offered, the Professional Engineering (P.E.) degree.
In 1930, the School of Engineering Dean, J.H. Dorrah, reported to Chancellor J.N. Powers that a concentration in chemical engineering, with a B.S. in general engineering, was in place. The first individual to complete the curriculum in chemical engineering was a University of Texas transfer student from Mexico, Gariboldi Del Bosque. That was 1934. Thus, [1994] marks the sixtieth anniversary of graduating chemical engineers from Ole Miss.
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In the University catalog for 1935-36, a specifically designated degree in chemical, as well as in civil and general, engineering was announced for the first time. It was not until 1940, however, that the University hired someone to teach chemical engineering course work and to develop the program in chemical engineering. That new assistant professor of chemistry, a Connecticut native with a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Maine, was Dr. Frank Anderson.
In its early days, the School of Engineering was in the Lyceum. Civil Engineering lecture rooms and drafting rooms were on the second floor of the north wing, and the laboratory was in the basement of the north wing. After the chemical engineering degree program was established, it became a part of the Chemistry Department and was located in the Old Chemistry Building, with the Unit Operations laboratory in the basement of the east wing. Early equipment, such as heat exchangers and fluid flow networks, was fabricated by the students. Dr. Anderson's first equipment budget was the magnanimous sum of $200, most of which went to Sears for tools. In those early years, chemical engineers studied hydraulics, fluid flow, mechanics, dynamics, ethics, slide rule, German and, of course, distillation, flow of heat, and evaporation.
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Dr. Anderson took a leave of absence from the University from 1945 to 1947 to work on his PhD. When he returned, he was named professor and acting chair of the Chemistry Department. In 1948, the Department of Chemical Engineering became a separate budgetary unit, with Dr. Anderson as the chair of both departments. A second chemical engineering instructor was hired, Professor Ray Bailey.
Chemical Engineering at Ole Miss was very popular in the post World War II era with numerous years producing 20-25 graduates. An MS program was developed, and the first graduate degree was awarded in 1951 to Cetal Oktay, a native of Turkey. Dr. Bailey left the Department that same year to become the chair at Tulane University. For the following two years, Dr. Anderson was again the entire Department. In 1953, however, Dr. Leland Roy arrived. The Department was accredited in 1954, and two years after that, Dr. Russ Aven returned to his alma mater to teach. Professors Anderson, Roy and Aven worked together for the next 23 years. The Chemical Engineering Department moved in the 1950's, from the Old Chemistry Building to the Old Laundry, now the Engineering Science building located between Carrier and Hume Halls. Although the Department had permission to offer the PhD since the late 1950's, it was not until 1969 that the first doctoral degree was awarded to George Abraham, a Mississippi native.
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The year 1970 was a special highlight, for it was then that a brand new building was dedicated, Anderson Hall, named after Frank A. Anderson, the first Professor of Chemical Engineering, the advocate, mentor and driving force of the Department.
In 1978, Dr. Anderson stepped down as department chair and was succeeded by Dr. Efton Park. Dr. Anderson retired the following year, and in 1983, was named the first Ole Miss Engineer of Distinction. After Professor Park's untimely death in 1981, Dr. William Genetti became the chair until his death in 1989. The current chair is Dr. Peter Sukanek who arrived in 1991.
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In addition to Professor Aven, two other aumni have returned to their alma mater to teach after receiving a PhD at another school. These were Professor Henry Haynes, currently at the University of Wyoming, and Professor H. Ted Huddleston, currently at the University of South Alabama.
The Department has six full time faculty: Professors Russell Aven (who arrived in 1956), Ajit Sadana (1981), Clint Williford (1982), Wei-Yin Chen (1990), Peter Sukanek (1991), and Randel Price (1993). In addition, the Department has been able to rely on the services of Professor Ray Stasiak, a 1944 graduate who "retired" to the Oxford area from 30 years as a civil servant in the US Air Force. For a number of years, Professor Stasiak has taught an undergraduate course in technical communications, and he has helped the Department in many other ways, including taking charge of the undergraduate lab when there was a faculty shortage.
At present the curriculum requires 137 credit hours for graduation. The Department runs three lab courses, taken in the junior and senior years, from its two laboratories in Anderson and Carrier Halls. A computer lab with six 486 IBM compatible PCs, and a seventh 386 connected to the University mainframe is available on the second floor of Anderson. A variety of software is available, including word processing, spread sheets, several mathematics packages, learning modules for several courses including material and energy balances and reactor design, and programs for simulating numerous unit operations. In spite of all this computational power, many of Dr. Aven's problems still require several days to do (if they can be done at all).
The senior design course is taught by Drs. Aven and Sukanek. A new feature, added in 1993 with the help of Mississippi Chemical Corporation in Yazoo City, is the use of "real" engineering problems. The students get to see the hardware, are presented with the problem much as they would be on their first job, are free to ask whatever questions they want (and sometimes get an answer), and can compare their results with what has been found in practice, if a solution has been found.
More than 500 B.S. Chemical Engineers have graduated from Ole Miss. Add over 150 M.S. graduates and 14 Ph.D.'s, and there is a very sizeable group of Ole Miss Engineers dedicated to the benefit of all mankind.
Since the article was written change has continued. Dr. Stasiak retired again in 1995. Dr. Aven retired in 1996 and Dr. John O'Haver was hired to fill the big shoes he left behind.
The curriculum has been modified somewhat. The three lab courses have been condensed to two, a separate economics course has been reintroduced, and the credits have been more evenly distributed over the semesters. The total required credits is now 133.
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