The Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia offers a full spectrum of academic programs leading to the Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. The Industrial Engineering Department was established as a degree granting division in 1958, and it is the only industrial engineering program in the State of Missouri. The Department is one of the six engineering departments within the College of Engineering on the Columbia campus of the University of Missouri.
In April of 1958, the faculty voted to discontinue the industrial engineering option in mechanical engineering, and to form a Department of Industrial Engineering to which the industrial engineering courses would be transferred. This option was initiated in 1951. To these transferred courses, a sufficient array of new courses were added to offer a complete curriculum in industrial engineering. The new BS degree in Industrial Engineering was approved by the faculty, the President of the University, and the Board of Curators in May, 1958.
In June 1959, the MS degree in Industrial Engineering was approved by the faculty. The curriculum of the BS degree in Industrial Engineering was accredited by ECPD, making all BS degrees with departme3650820 8376nt designations in the College of Engineering full accredited by 1962. The first MS degrees in the Department of Industrial Engineering were awarded in 1959 to James Schloemann, Richard Jauregul, and Joe Patterson.
In 1950 Dean Croft appointed Robert Walker to teach industrial engineering courses in the Mechanical engineering Department, and also to encourage companies to send representatives to Columbia to interview graduating students. George Elliott and Robert Eastman, who later became chairman of the Industrial Engineering Department, replaced Walker in this position.
In 1959, the four-story Electrical Engineering Building and attached, 300-seat auditorium, were occupied. The building included offices for the faculty of the Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Mathematics Departments.
The first faculty in the Department of Industrial Engineering (1958-59) were Professor Robert M. Eastman (chair), Assistant Professor J. Pitts Jarvis, Jr., Instructor Lee Charles Raney. In 1959-60 the department had grown to include James M. Beauchamp, Jr. as an Associate Professor. By 1961-62, the Department consisted of Professor Robert M. Eastman (chair), Associate Professor James M. Beauchamp, Jr., Associate Professor Richard P. Covert, Assistant Professor J. Pitts Jarvis, Jr. and Instructor Larry Gene David. Larry David resigned 8/31/64 and in 1964-65, Owen W. Miller joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor.
In June 2004, a combined five-year courses in Industrial engineering and the School of Business and Public Administration was introduced. Completing this, the student would receive his BS degree in both industrial engineering and business.
