Mechanical Drafting Plate Specifications, 1913 | University of Illinois Archives

In 1904, the College of Engineering requested the establishment of a General Engineering Drawing Department, but the President decided to not approve the request at that time.¹ In 1921, a formalized four-year curriculum was established, the completion of which awarded a B.S. in General Engineering, though GED was still only an informal service department.² The Department offered a non-specialized general engineering curriculum leading to the degree of B.S. in General Engineering intended for students who might not wish to undertake a program for more specialized fields of engineering practice, but who, however, might wish to secure fundamental training in the principles of engineering theory in order to ally themselves with industrial and commercial developments in the fields of management, operation and construction.³

In 1953, its name changed to the Department of General Engineering from General Engineering Drawing in order to "give instruction and conduct research in graphics, but also operate the general engineering curriculum."⁴

In 2006, General Engineering merged with the Industrial Engineering Program to form the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, in order to better reflect the integrated nature of its interdisciplinary technical and business training and research.⁵

1. Board of Trustees Transactions, 23rd Report, November 9, 1904, January 17, 1905, pp. 19, 38.

2. University of Illinois Annual Register, 1922-1923, p. 137.

3. Undergraduate Course Catalogs, 1973-75, p. 226.

4. College of Engineering Annual Reports, 1952-53, p. 5.

5. Newsletters, "The Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering," 2006, Record Series 11/7/809.