Our Departmental History at Texas A&M University
In 1952, Texas A&M University (then the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas) established an Industrial Technology degree program in the Department of Industrial Education, a unit of the College of Engineering. In 1956 the Industrial Distribution degree program was founded in that same department.
In 1966, the university created the College of Education, and teacher education activities were transferred there from the Industrial Education Department. In 1967, the department's remaining activities in the College of Engineering were renamed Engineering Technology.
At that time, the department administered four degree programs:
B.S. in Industrial Distribution
B.S. in Industrial Technology
B.S. in Engineering Technology (received TAC/ABET accreditation in 1975)
M.S. in Industrial Technology (eliminated in 1981).
In 1981, the Industrial Technology program was strengthened to become a manufacturing specialty under Engineering Technology. Consolidated, Engineering Technology was formed from three technology specialties: electronics, manufacturing and mechanical. The Industrial Distribution program remained separate. In 1994, the Telecommunications Engineering Technology program, which had been part of the Electronics Engineering Technology (EET) program since 1976, received TAC/ABET accreditation as a separate program closely related to EET.
The department currently has three TAC/ABET-accredited Engineering Technology programs, plus the Industrial Distribution program. A web-based distance learning master's degree program in Industrial Distribution (MID) was launched in Fall 2001 and the inaugural class graduated in May 2003.