of Sigma Rho Tau, a student organization devoted primarily to discussion of engineering and related problems.
Methods and materials may have altered through the years, but the work of the department is still focused upon the original purpose for which the initial courses were established in 1895: sound training in written and oral communication, and the development of comprehension and reading skill through contact with broadening and humanizing material.
MATHEMATICS IN THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
BEFORE the organization of the Department of Engineering as a separate unit in 1895, students of engineering were required to take courses in mathematics numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. Mathematics 1 and 2 were four-hour courses in algebra and analytical geometry; Mathematics 3 and 4 were five-hour courses in calculus, and Mathematics 6 was a four-hour course in mechanics. In 1895 the Department of Mathematics formed separate sections for engineering students, and courses 4 and 6 were both listed as Calculus and Mechanics.
In 1901 the Board of Regents at the request of the engineering faculty appointed Alexander Ziwet, Junior Professor of Mathematics, to take charge of engineering mathematics. Under this arrangement the budget remained in the Department of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and all appointments to the staff were made by Professor Wooster Woodruff Beman ('70, A.M. '73, LL.D. Kalamazoo '08), head of the Department of Mathematics in the Literary Department. Some members of the staff taught entirely in the Department of Engineering, others entirely in the Department of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and a third group taught in both. By 1902-3 the courses were listed as 1E, 2E, 3E, 4E, and 5E. In 1903 Course 5E was replaced by a three-hour course, also called 5E, and a two-hour course 6E was added.
As a consequence, between 1903 and 1911 the Department of Mathematics had contact with all engineering students during the first three years of their professional education and played an important role in their training. The course work included college algebra, analytical geometry, calculus, differential equations, and theoretical mechanics.
A separate budget for mathematics was introduced in the Department of Engineering in 1905, and subsequent appointments and promotions, although made by Professor Ziwet, were administered by the Department of Engineering. For several years no changes were
