Home

Engineering Outlook

"The stone and brick and wood of this landmark could not have been more handsome when its doors were open 106 years ago."
Dean William R. Schowalter

Dean’s Column

On June 16, two of the four associate deans, along with their staffs, moved back to Engineering Hall after more than two years in the Engineering Sciences Building on the corner of Springfield and Goodwin Avenues. We were grateful for the space made available to us in ESB, but the return to Engineering Hall, even in its still unfinished state, evoked all of the feelings of a return to the roots of this remarkable College of Engineering. The stone and brick and wood of this landmark could not have been more handsome when its doors were opened to students 106 years ago. Thanks to financial support from The Grainger Foundation Inc. and the creative design and engineering work of A. Epstein and Sons International Inc., we have a facility sure to please and sure to last at least another century. On September 22, as part of the agenda for the annual fall meeting of the University of Illinois Foundation, we had a rededication of Engineering Hall.

Completion of the Engineering Hall project is only one of many important construction projects in progress. It has been several years since we have simultaneously managed, or been heavily involved in, so many initiatives. The long overdue renovation of the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory (MEL), along with construction of new space for students of the west side of MEL, is now in full swing. Architects are busy with design of the new Siebel Center for Computer Science, scheduled for completion in the fall of 2003. Then there are the new research parks being built contiguous with the engineering campus on the north and the agriculture campus on the south. In this issue of Engineering Outlook you will learn about these exciting projects.

With so many things going so well, I am convinced this is the perfect time to choose another person to become dean of this fine college. On May 16, I told the provost of my intent to step down as dean and to retire from the active faculty. For a variety of reasons (not the least of which is my arrival in February of 1989), the end of February 2001 is the target date. Naturally, I am continually asked what I will do. To date my plans are still fluid, but it is not unlikely that I will get up in the morning, go to work, and think–just as a professor is supposed to. Meanwhile, there is much to do, and I look forward to busy months ahead.