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What began in 1914 with 28 students and two faculty has grown to 2,800 students and 100 faculty --100 times the students in 100 years! The College of Engineering will pause on Thursday, May 22, to celebrate its century of service to generations of students and their contributions to the region, the country and the world with a Centennial Banquet in the Student Union Ballroom, beginning at 5:30 p.m. with a social hour. Dinner will be at 6:30 p.m.

The evening will feature “hometown girl” Deborah Wince Smith as the keynote speaker. She is president and CEO of the Washington, D.C-based Council on Competitiveness. Smith will present "The Coming Age of Innovation: Engineering the Future of a Turbulent and Transforming Global Economy."

Over the last century, °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ’s College of Engineering has been the producer of a premier workforce pipeline to strengthen the region's economy. Thus far, about 86 percent of the May 2014 graduates have accepted jobs in Ohio, the largest percentage in several years.

Beyond the centennial, the college has many firsts to celebrate:

• In response to industry demands, the College of Engineering established the country’s first and only undergraduate program offering a bachelor’s degree in aerospace systems engineering. It produces engineers with a focus on research and development, technical skills and business acumen. This month saw the first four students graduate from the program — all are going directly into selective career positions at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Pratt & Whitney and UTC Aerospace Systems.

• On May 23-24, °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ will host the National Student Steel Bridge Competition for the first time in the College of Engineering’s history. The nation’s most competitive engineering students from 50 schools will be at the John S. Knight Center. Teams build their bridges as quickly as possible, then judges inspect the bridges for compliance with competition rules and test them for lateral and vertical deflection.  Every team comes into the competition with the same size box containing the students' choice of materials. Categories of the competition are display, construction speed, lightness, stiffness, construction economy, and structural efficiency.

• An early first for the college —  Minnie Pritchard was the only female in her 1955 graduating civil engineering class. She not only was first in the class, she was the first student to graduate with distinction from the college. Pritchard worked at Goodyear Aerospace before taking time off to start a family. She began work at her alma mater in 1964 as a part-time teacher, until becoming a professor in 1971. She now lives with her husband Bill (also an engineering alum) in New Franklin, Ohio. Today, the college awards Bachelor of Science in Engineering degrees to approximately 70 women each year, and, to date, more than 1,290 women have graduated from the college.

You can still make reservations for the Centennial Banquet today by visiting . The cost is $60 per person.

Media contact: Denise Henry, 330-972-6477 or henryd@uakron.edu.

The Zips Aero design team placed first overall and set a new record for accuracy in the Advanced Class  in the 2014 SAE Aero Design East competition. Seen here are members Drew Bower, left, with Matt O'Neil, advisor Dr. Jerry Drummond and Ian Maatz.

The 2014 Steel Bridge Team will compete next weekend in the National Student Steel Bridge Competition, to be hosted here in Akron.

Minnie Pritchard was the only female in her 1955 graduating civil engineering class. She not only was first in the class, she was the first student to graduate with distinction from the college. She later joined °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ to teach in the college.