In 1914, Harvard did not even have an engineering department of its own. Instead, it shared a program with MIT.

Accounts differ over the exact history of the merger, but McKay Professor of Environmental Engineering Peter P. Rogers claims that Harvard simply attempted to hand over its unwanted engineering resources to the institute.

For years, engineering was a stepchild, shifted around the University and separate from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). In fact, it may be the only field of study at Harvard in which the dean owns a sheet detailing its many identity changes. The brief, found in the office of Dean of the Division of Applied Sciences Paul C. Martin, is called "Reincarnations."

"We almost seem like someone in search of a home," says McKay Professor of Mechanical Engineering Frederick H. Abernathy. "We've had our name changed so many times."

Today, the University that claims to represent the best of all academics is still scrambling to catch up in several key areas of engineering research and teaching.

Harvard's graduate engineering program ranks only 26th in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report magazine. Competitors say the program's small size and budget prevent it from measuring up to the standard of larger schools like MIT.

The problem is not Harvard's faculty, who are top quality, according to John C. Brauman, senior associate dean for student affairs at Stanford.

But, he adds, "at a very small school you're not going to have the infrastructure you need to do modern engineering."

In fact, professors in the Harvard department are on a tight budget. Several of the engineering faculty members' positions are not fully endowed.

"We need to have more appointments," Martin says. "Some of our courses are taught by people who are here in positions that are not fully funded."

That may change. In the $1 billion Faculty of Arts and Sciences component of the ongoing University capital campaign, few areas received higher priority than engineering.

The engineering concentration is also expanding at Harvard (please see graphic, this page). Students say they like the department's small size and personal contact, and don't regret picking it.

Professors say Harvard's program offers a different approach from the traditional engineering powerhouses, preparing students for all walks of life, not just traditional engineering posts.

"Engineering here teaches you how to think rather than simply how to go and do engineering," says Clark H. Dean '95.

But if Harvard is to compete in research and continue to attract top students, professors caution, the capital campaign money must come through.

"Communications, computing and the environment need more infusions of funds to support them," Martin says. "We're in the campaign in part to grow, and in part to stabilize, because we have, in part, grown the programs without sufficient endowment."