History of the College
No formal, complete and routinely updated history of K-State engineering exists, or has it ever to our knowledge, yet we do believe there is value, entertainment and sometimes even awe to be gained by looking back at where we’ve come from and how we’ve evolved, while in many ways stayed so very much the same.
The following are distinct pieces of our history compiled at different times from different sources.
The Impact of K-State Engineering
The history of the college, from 1965 through 2018, is presented through news clips and photos extracted from the archived issues of Impact magazine, the college’s semi-annual publication for alumni, friends and parents of current students. The fall 2018 magazine was the final issue published before the college’s official name change to the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering.
Two additional sections of this volume contain bios and photos of each dean of the college, as well as a photo gallery of all members of the Hall of Fame.
Legacy: Engineering at Kansas State University
This book covers the College of Engineering from its conceptual stages, to its actual formation as Mechanic Arts at the Kansas State Agriculture College in 1863, through 100 years. Structured around the leadership of the deans who oversaw the growth of the curriculum, programs of study and physical structure of the college through 1962, Legacy provides a unique and detailed chronicle of the development of engineering education at K-State.
K-Hill history
A longstanding community service project of Tau Beta Pi is the upkeep and cleaning of K-Hill. Each fall since 1974, members have spent time clearing brush, picking up trash and whitewashing the iconic concrete “K” and “S” letters south of Manhattan on the west side of Highway 177. Construction of the “K” dates back to the 1920s when students at the then-named Kansas State Agricultural College, or KSAC, wanted to erect a letter "K" on Mount Prospect — later known as KS Hill, and today as K-Hill.
These pages and links offer a detailed history of this iconic landmark, complete with a photo gallery and supporting original pieces gleaned from university archives from the 1920s, ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s, to present-day publications.
Engineering Experiment Station history
The Engineering Experiment Station was established for the purpose of carrying on tests and research work of engineering and manufacturing value to the state of Kansas, as well as collecting, preparing and presenting technical information in a form readily available for use by various industries within the state.