Special Collections
Happy 50th Birthday, College of Engineering!
In 2012, the College of Engineering celebrates its 50th Anniversary.
Here’s an excerpt from Abundant Harvest about the early years of the College of Engineering:
“In 1959-60, the Kerr Commission determined that California needed an additional engineering school and that Davis was the logical site. Authorized as a separate college in 1962, the College of Engineering initially functioned as a single unit without separate departments. Roy Bainer, who had been on campus since 1929, became the first dean of the college. The first year there were 200 undergraduate students, 42 graduate students, 20 faculty members, and about 100 classes.”
Today the College of Engineering has 8 academic departments, 15 undergraduate majors, 10 graduate programs, 201 faculty members, 3,460 undergraduates, 1,250 graduate students, and 21,000 alumni.
![](https://stage.library.ucdavis.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/uap-02219-1.jpg)
Governor Pat Brown (right) visits the Agricultural Engineering Department. Coby Lorenzen on left, 1965.