OSU Civil Engineering Chairs

1876-1885

Robert W. McFarland
"Almost as much in evidence on the campus as the clock-tower of University Hall was our mathematician and civil engineer.he was charged with care, development, and protection of the College grounds, and no one who ever know him would doubt that he was most assiduous and untiring in his duties.at 50, he was an interesting and striking figure. Walking tall, erect, hatless, as was his custom, from his residence to the College building, head heavily covered with iron gray hair and beard to match, the ever-present book in hand from which he read as he walked, he presented a picture not easily effaced from the memory of his colleagues or the students of the day."

McFarland left OSU in 1885 to become president of Miami University.

1885-1902

C. Newton Brown Was a student under, and later an assistant for McFarland. "Professor Brown was a large, handsome, and dignified leader."

1902-1938

Christopher E. Sherman (transportation)
Christopher Sherman was a notable figure and a cousin of Civil War General Sherman. He wore a goatee and often dressed rather formally, with a stand-up collar and bow tie. In the 1929 annual report, Sherman noted that he was personally acquainted with all but a few of the 700 civil engineering graduates of the department.

1938-1947

Clyde T. Morris (structures)
Tall and slender, with a scholarly stoop, Professor Morris was a dignified man and the very figure of a distinguished professor. During 1920-22, Morris was on leave as chief engineer of design and building of Ohio Stadium. In 2001, Chair Oliver G. McGee III established The Clyde T. Morris Memorial Lobby of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science in memory of Morris' leadership in the evolutionary development of the OSU civil engineering program during the War Years (1938-1947).

1947-1953

George E. Large (soil mechanics), chair

1953-1955

Kenneth W. Cosens -acting chair

1955-1971

Hamilton Gray, chair and later dean of the College of Engineering.

1971-1976

Russell Jones, chair, who later became president of RPI.

1977

Tien Y. Chen (structures), acting chair, January-June 1977

1977-1983

Otis Sproul (hydraulics), chair

1983

Zoltan Nemeth (transportation), acting chair, October 1983

1983-1990

Robert L. Sierakowski (structures), chair

1991-1992

Zoltan Nemeth (transportation), acting chair

1992-1994

T.H. Wu (soil mechanics), acting chair

1994-2001

Keith W. Bedford (hydraulics), chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science

2001-2005

Oliver G. McGee III (structures), chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science

2005-

Carolyn J. Merry (remote sensing), chair, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science

Sources:

A Family Album of The Ohio State University, 1870-1970: The First Hundred Years.

Ohio State University Press publication in observance of the Centennial of the Founding of the University.

Civil Engineering in the First Century of The Ohio State University.

Unpublished historical compilation by John M. Weed in 1970, who also prepared a history of the OSU College of Engineering.