The Koch Center for Engineering and Science is the main engineering building for Evansville's engineering students. The Koch Center contains over 150,000 square feet of classrooms, labs, and office space to serve the students, faculty, and staff of the engineering and science disciplines.

Koch Center Pictures

       

A History of the Koch Center

The Engineering and Science Building, located in the southeast section of campus, was the third, main building constructed on the UE campus in September 1947, at a cost of $700,000. President Hale, in 1943, instituted the Evansville College Development Fund, which produced sufficient funds for the new building.

The school was attempting to develop a program suitable for an industrial community and to furnish classrooms to accomodate the expected increase in enrollment following the end of World War II. It was constructed out of Indiana Limestone in a Gothic style to match the architecture of the Administration (now called Olmstead) Hall.

In 1976 a northwest addition to the Engineering and Science Building was planned. The school received a one million-dollar gift from the Krannert Charitable fund - at the time, the largest gift ever bestowed upon the university in its 122 year history. The new addition was dedicated in October 1978, subjoining 30,000 square feet to the already 59,000 square foot Engineering and Science Building. This provided space for faculty offices and classrooms. Up to that point the school was renting off-campus space for evening programs, and thirty rooms in residence halls were used as faculty offices. Like the original section, the addition was constructed of the Indiana Limestone but only rose two stories instead of three.

In the summer following the completion of the new addition, the older section was remodeled. The floors were divided to accomodate the different scientific disciplines. The third floor was for the chemistry department, while the second floor included biology and labs for geography and law enforcement. Physics and engineering was located on the first floor. The entire project's tag was $2.8 million.

In November of 1984, the Engineering and Science Building was renamed Koch Center in honor of Robert L. Koch, the chairman of the board of George Koch and Sons, Inc., and a member of the UE board of trustees since 1968. This was prompted by his donation to UE's New Century Capital Campaign to be used toward the new library that was under construction at the time.

The building underwent another addition on its south end in 1999. Included in the addition was new classrooms, lab space, and offices as well as several upgrades to the existing buildings. The $12.5 million project was completed in time for the start of the Fall 2001 semester.

At the present time, the building is occupied by the Engineering disciplines (Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering) and the Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics).