In 1941, the Board of Visitors authorized the establishment of a Department of Electrical Engineering at The Citadel. Because World War II intervened, the first electrical engineering degrees were awarded to the class of 1948. Today, the electrical and computer engineering department offers courses in two modes—day mode and the 2+2 evening mode. The day mode is open only to members of the South Carolina Corps of Cadets, veterans, and enlisted active duty students assigned to one of The Citadel’s ROTC Departments. The 2+2 evening mode is open to transfer students and does not require ROTC or Health and Physical Education. Otherwise, curricula, faculty, textbooks, laboratory equipment, course content, classrooms, and laboratory rooms are the same for both modes.
The Electrical and Computer Engineering department offers three degree programs and one graduate certificate. They are: the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, the Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering, the Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, and the Graduate Certificate in Computer Engineering.
The Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, http://www.abet.org.
The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department is located on the third floor of Grimsley Hall, a first-tier engineering education facility that provides fully-equipped laboratories, classrooms and faculty offices. The related Departments of Mathematics and Computer Science, Physics, and Mechanical, Civil and Environmental Engineering are housed adjacent to the department, creating a “microcampus” of science and technology.
The student branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) was established in 1962 and is an active component of the electrical engineering program. The South Carolina Gamma Chapter of Tau Beta Pi, The National Engineering Honors Society was founded in 1982. Students of the junior and senior classes who meet the academic requirements may be elected to Tau Beta Pi.