Department chairs
Past 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 knew 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." Professor McFarland left OSU in 1885 to become President of Miami University.
1885-1902 C. Newton Brown
Brown was a student under, and later an assistant for, Robert McFarland. "Professor Brown was a large, handsome, and dignified leader."
1902-1938 Christopher E. Sherman
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
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)
1953-1955 Kenneth W. Cosens
1955-1971 Hamilton Gray (later Dean of the College of Engineering)
1971-1976 Russell Jones (later became President at RPI)
1977 Tien Y. Chen (structures) - January-June 1977
1977-1983 Otis Sproul (hydraulics)
1983 Zoltan Nemeth (transportation) - October 1983
1983-1990 Robert L. Sierakowski (structures)
1991-1992 Zoltan Nemeth (transportation)
1992-1994 T.H. Wu (soil mechanics)
1994-2001 Keith W. Bedford (hydraulics)
2001-2005 Oliver G. McGee, III (structures)
2005-2013 Carolyn J. Merry (remote sensing)
2013-2017 Dorota Grejner Brzezinska (navigation)
Past Geodetic Science Chairs
1960-1962 Robert Oetjen
1962-1964 Edward Moulton
1964-1984 Urho A. Uotila
1984-1993 Ivan Mueller
1993-1996 Clyde Goad