University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Grainger College of Engineering

William Leighton Collins

[title]
To William Leighton Collins, researcher, educator, and administrator, for stimulating the progress in engineering education both as a teacher and as the executive secretary of the ASEE.

Executive Secretary, The American Society for Engineering Education, Washington, D.C.

  • MS, Civil Engineering, 1932

After graduating with a BS degree from the University of Illinois, Mr. Collins joined the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. He served in the armed forces from 1942 to 1946 and attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

His contributions to the research on low-alloy, high-strength steels have been significant, and the results of his comprehensive investigations on the strength properties of gray irons led to the development of a rational procedure in the analysis and design of load-carrying members made of gray irons. Through his work with young teaching assistants in the Department by counseling them during their first semester of teaching, he stimulated scores of young men into becoming first-rate teachers, many of whom have joined the ranks of college teaching.

In 1955 Mr. Collins assumed his present position of executive secretary of the American Society for Engineering Education. He has held this post through one of the most critical and most productive eras of the ASEE. He was instrumental in guiding the Society into a role of leadership so that today the ASEE is a dominant force in engineering education.

Current as of 1969.