Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Established | 1953/1972 |
| Dean | Michael A. Jensen |
| Location | Provo, Utah, United States |
| Campus | Brigham Young University |
| Affiliations | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
| Website | http://www.et.byu.edu/ |
The Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology represents Brigham Young University's (BYU) engineering discipline and includes the following engineering departments: chemical, civil, electrical and computer, mechanical, and the school of technology. The College awards about 700 degrees every year (600 BS, 90 MS, 18 PhD) and has almost 3,500 students.
The College had roots going back to the introduction of Brigham Young Academy, but the College's more official beginning occurred when the first dean, Harvey Fletcher, organized the engineering program at BYU in 1952. This was the department of Engineering Science that at the time was part of the BYU College of Arts and Sciences. By 1965, there were four engineering departments (Chemical, Physical, Civil and Electrical), with enrollment at the median compared to engineering schools in the United States. By 1969, enrollment had reached the 70th percentile. The college has continued to expand, and now includes 3 main facilities for its students: the Clyde, Crabtree, and Snell buildings. Fletcher's design of the acoustics for the DeJong Concert Hall of the College of Fine Arts at BYU is at times attributed to this college since Fletcher was the first head of the engineering department. However, since acoustics is a sub-field of physics it is also possible to attribute that work more to the College of Physical and Engineering Sciences, which is where both physics and engineering were housed at that time. That college is a partial ancestor of the College of Engineering and Technology but also of the BYU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
The Fulton College of Engineering and Technology was formed in 1972 by the merging of the four engineering departments from the College of Physical and Engineering Sciences, which was then renamed the college of Physical and Mathematical Sciences with most of the College of Industrial and Technical Education.
The College of Industrial and Technical Education had been formed in 1965 when it was split from the General College, which was separated from the College of Biological and Agricultural Sciences in 1957. The placement of Technical and Industrial Education in a college labeled Biological and Agricultural Sciences had arguably never been entirely logical. It did make a little sense considering one possible program was vocational agriculture, but the general disconnect between the terminology and the actual programs probably explains why the Industrial and Technical Education programs had only been in the College of Biology and Agriculture for 3 years. Prior to 1954 what would become the college of Biology and Agriculture had along with what would become the College of Family Living, which in turn was a predecessor of the College of Family, Home and Social Sciences been the college of Applied Science. Under this name the inclusion of technical education programs had made sense.
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