Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

Each spring our department undergoes a formal college-level review. As you might expect, the report we prepare for this review will again convey many such positive points about our visionary strategic plan: graduation numbers, papers published, and projects undertaken, all intent on reaffirming our continued progress.

To put things in perspective, I recently visited the ISU library archives where their resident historian was able to resurrect similar reports going back to Anson Marston’s original 19th century entries.

Of course, the department’s original 19th century budget was considerably smaller, with $3,000 in salaries and $1,150 in expendables and equipment—three-plus orders of magnitude lower than today’s figures!

Even more remarkable, however, was the truly visionary “Proposed Twenty Year Program” (pdf) plan Marston developed more than 70 years ago. It covered a range of issues and goals with remarkable relevance to our own current strategic initiatives.

Marston’s goals were the following:

1. Provide adequate guidance, example, and training to build students into better men and women and develop the best in character, personality, and ability in each student.
2. Develop as much leadership ability as possible in each student. Both leadership in his own professional field and in public affairs at large.
3. Give them as much appreciation and understanding as possible of the true, the beautiful, and the good.
4. Train civil engineers of the highest possible skill and efficiency in highway engineering, structural engineering, and railroad engineering.
5. Provide the most useful service courses possible for workers in allied fields.
6. Carry on research work along all lines of civil engineering that will advance the industries and public works of the state.
7. Aid the related industries of the state in every possible way through engineering extension.

We certainly intend to continue building upon the visionary academic foundation laid by our former chair and dean!