History
The Forties:
In 1941, the first year of Dr. Everett Derryberry's 44-year Tennessee Polytechnic Institute (TPI) presidency, Professor J. M. Henderson, head of the Department of Engineering and Industrial Arts, hired Mr. Clyde E. Burns to teach courses in the Industrial Arts curriculum. Mr. Burns introduced Industrial Engineering related subject matter at TPI. The 1940-41 College catalog announced two new courses, Job Analysis and Factory Planning, to be taught in the fall quarter 1941-42 and in alternate years.
Mr. Burn's courses disappeared from the department's offerings after one year. However, material of interest to IEs reappeared in the College Announcements of 1944-45. By 1944, the Department of Engineering and industrial Arts grew to include curricula in Chemical, Civil, Electrical, General, and Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Arts. Among the engineering faculty were associate professors civil engineers D.W. Mattson, a faculty member since 1935, and electrical engineer C.P. Philpot, a member o the faculty since 1942. The General Engineering Course listings of 1944045 included courses in engineering economics, engineering accounting, and industrial management.
In 1945 the name of the Department of Engineering and Industrial Arts was shortened to the Department of Engineering. Industrial Arts programs of study, however, remained a popular and important departmental dimension. The 1945-46 TPI Announcement listed a full 4-year Industrial Engineering curriculum, a program that would disappear in 1947.
In 1949 the Department of Engineering became the School of Engineering and J. M. Henderson was named Director. The School included four engineering departments: Civil, Electrical, General, and Mechanical Engineering, and the Department of Industrial Arts. The Department of General Engineering included two specified curricula, General Engineering and Engineering Chemistry.
The Fifties:
Ralph L Dunckel, joined the Engineering faculty in 1956 and would have a substantial influence on the development of industrial engineering education at TPI. The 1958-59 Announcement included significant changes in the School's organization. The Department of Industrial Arts became the Department of Industrial Technology. Three options in th General Engineering Department were Engineering Schience, Industrial Engineering, and Engineering Chemistry. Courses included in the IE Option were Industrial Safety, Contracts and Specifications, Engineering Economics, Tim and Motion Study, Quality Control, Production Analysis, Production Control, and Factory Planning. Work Measurement Techniques was added to the catalog in 1959.
The Sixties:
James Seay Brown succeeded J. M. Henderson as Director of the School of Engineering in 1961. Mr. Henderson assumed responsibility for the Freshman Engineering Curriculum with immediate oversight by the Director's office. In 1961 Dean Brown named Mr. Philpot to serve as first Chairperson of the newly created Department of Industrial Engineering. In 1964 Mr. Homi K. Patel, joined the I. E. Faculty as an instructor.
TPI became Tennessee Technological University in 1965. In the fall of 1968 Sidney G. Gilbreath, came to TTU from Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) as an associate professor. He assumed the Department Chairmanship one year later.
The Seventies:
In 1970 Assistant Professor Joseph H. McGilberry, and Dr. James R. Smith were hired. In 1972 the Department received approval for the M.S. program of graduate study. Mr. Philpot retired in 1974 and was replaced by Dr. Thomas B. Auer in the fall of 1975.
In January 1976 Dr. L. J. Turvaville, Ph. D., Georgia Tech, joined the faculty as a replacement for Dr. Auer. Dr. Gilbreath resigned the chairmanship in 1978. Dr. Turvaville became Chairman and in 1979 Associate Professors Meenakshi Sundaram, Ph. D., Texas Tech University and Seiichi Fujita, Ph. D., Georgia Tech, joined the I.E. faculty.
The Eighties:
In 1984, Dr, David Strack, expert in digital simulation and other applications of emerging personal computers, was hired as an Assistant Professor, bringing the faculty complement to six. In 1986 Dr. Subramaniam Deivanayagam was appointed IE Chairman. In fall 1989 Dr. Kenneth Currie joined the faculty.
The Nineties:
Dr. David Elizandro accepted the departmental chair position in fall 1993. Dr. Gilbreath retired in spring 1994. Dr. Jessica Matson assumed the Chair position in August 1998. Dr. Gary Black, Ph.D., University of Alabama-Huntsville, joined the faculty in 2001.
Since 1967 faculty efforts have enjoyed support by many highly qualified short-term, temporary, and adjunct members including Mr. Peter Anderson, Mr. Rizza Barlas, Mr. Frank Prochaska, Mr. Ronald Martin, Mr. Jerry Duncan, Mr. Ed McCoin, Dr. V. C. Venkatesh, Mr. Larry Smith, Mr. Henry Duvier, et al.
Although examining three decades of curricula alone reveals few changes in the IE program, this appearance is very misleading. While the courses and their names remain familiar, material content has tracked contemporary practicec and technology in both the philosophies and the tools of systems analysis, design, synthesis, and improvement, briging remarkable changes in students' educational experiences within the apparently rather constant curricular framework.
Accompanying faculty, staff, and administrative influences, Tech's IE success may be attributed to a constant stream of bright, interested, resourceful, energetic students; unflagging support from regional and local businesses; and strong, steadfast alumni support. Many employers consistently praise the IE program at Tennessee Tech as a source of most desirable entry level IEs.
