HISTORY
The history of the Department of Civil Engineering and its alumni is closely linked to the history of the Faculty. The latter had its origins in the College of the Military Engineers Corps, organized under the government of Don Juan Corral in 1814 in Medellin. Its first director was the sage Francisco José de Caldas, who was then Colonel of Engineers. This school had short life due to both the trip of its director to Santa Fé and the campaign of the Spanish reconquest.
In the first administration of General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, the Military College was created for training Official and Civil Engineers. It opened on January 2, 1848 under the direction of the Generals of Independence, José María Ortega and Joaquín M. Barriga and with the collaboration of distinguished professors such as Don Lino de Pombo, Colonel Antonio R. de Narváez and Don Ramón Guerra Azuola, later Engineer and Lawyer. The main subjects were Arithmetic, Algebra, Speculative and Practical Geometry, Straight and Spherical Trigonometry, Analytical Geometry, Conic Sections mathematically and systematically treated, Descriptive Geometry and its applications to shadows, Perspective, Machinery and Stone Cutting, Differential and Integral Calculus, Mechanics, Machinery, Cosmography, Civil Architecture, Hydraulics, Roads, Bridges and Pavements.
From the military point of view, there were courses on campaign fortifications, mines, military bridges, attack and defense of fortified places and points, constructions of the branch of engineers and their materials, equipment and artillery service, tactics, topography, time and expenses budget, gymnastic exercises, fencing, riding and swimming, etc. In this stage, two military engineers and a group of civil engineers were graduated, among them: Ramón Ponce de León, Indalecio Liévano, Juan Nepomuceno González Vázquez, Tomás Cuenca and Rafael Pombo, who did not practice the profession.
The coup of General José María Melo, on April 17, 1854 interrupted the work of the Military College, though in 1855 General Herrán, defended the existence of this already famous establishment in the Congress. After the triumph of the revolution of General Mosquera, and the subsequent storming of Bogotá, this caudillo, who had always had a special interest in the institution, issued a decree on August 24, 1861, that reestablished the Military College and created in addition the Polytechnic School for engineering education. These establishments were later incorporated into the Universidad Nacional. Thus, the Faculty of Engineering had then its origins.
On July 4, 1866, the Congress ordered the issuance of diplomas of suitability of the country's engineers, creating the Corps of Engineers, as a dependency of the Government. It had a Director and Secretary and two assistants for each of the states (of the then United States of Colombia). This body was organized by the Government on August 30 of that same year.
After the coup d'état in May 1867, Law 66 of September 22 of that same year created the Universidad Nacional de los Estados Unidos Colombia and within it, the Faculty of Engineering, which put an end to the Military School. This Faculty functioned in the Old Cloister of Santa Clara, where the School of Fine Arts is today. From 1881 to 1884, the Engineering School functioned as a dependency of the Ministry of War and a few years of irregular activity came due to the frequent wars that hit the country. In 1885, under the direction of Rafael Espinosa Escallón, the Faculty was definitely organized and from this year until 1900 it was under the direction of the engineers Ramón Guerra Azuola, Manuel Ponce de León, Julio Garavito Armero and Rafael Torres Mariño.
The "War of a Thousand Days" interrupted essentially the work of the institution. In 1900, some friends of the wise Garavito, who was the Director then, organized the School of Engineers, which operated in the grounds of the Astronomical Observatory. Since 1902, when the war ended, the Faculty operated without interruption, under the direction of eminent patriots and men of study like Alberto Borda Tango, Francisco J. Casa, Victor F. Caro, Pedro Uribe Gauguín. Julio Carrizosa Valenzuela, Jorge Acosta Villaveces, Darío Rozo and Gabriel Durama Camacho. Law 68 of December 7, 1935 created the Universidad Nacional de Colombia as an autonomous legal entity with relative economic independence. The title of Rector was assigned to the President of the University and that of Dean to the Directors of the Faculties.
From 1902 to 1910, the University operated in the back side of the Carrera Palace and in 1910 it was moved to the building built on Calle 10ª with Carrera 5ª. From 1931 and before moving to the University City in 1940, it functioned in the old building of the Central Technical Institute. In 1965, by means of Agreement 59 of the University Superior Council, the Academic Division of the National University was established along with the general organization of its Academic Units that were: Dean, Vice Dean, Secretary, Department Director, Institutes Directors, Chiefs of Academic Sections. At that time, the undergraduate program was not regulated, and the Department was in charge of preparing the teaching programs appropriate to their purposes, with the guidelines indicated by the curricula of the Faculty.
In the beginning, the Department of Civil Engineering had six sections: Construction, Structures, Geotechnics, Hydraulics, Sanitary Engineering and Transport. The preliminary plans for teaching were approved by the Department Director and sent to the Board of Directors through the Dean. In addition, the Dean had the responsibility of teaching corresponding to his scientific field. The Chief of the Section collaborated with the Director of the Department in the normal development of the academic programs, evaluated annually the performance of the teaching staff of the section and presented it to the Department Director.
The professionalist conception of the Department assimilated the career with a "limitation in the projection and generation of new knowledge, inherent to the necessary restriction that the professional curriculum implied". This conception was modified in 1980 when the General Statute of the University was formulated in Agreement 124, due to the numerical growth and the academic development of the University in aspects such as the expansion of postgraduate programs and the development of research and consultancy work at an extrauniversity level, among others. This modification solved the dichotomy between the academic and administrative sectors. Within the conception of the Faculty, the General Statute presented the definitions of "Curricular Program" (undergraduate and postgraduate) and "Operative Unit".
The director of a curricular program (Curricular Division) is responsible for the adequate management of an operational unit (Department Direction), collaborates with the Board of Directors and the Dean in the administration of human resources (teachers and technicians) and the equipment and materials necessary for the execution of the research, teaching and specialized consultancy plans.
In Agreement 10 of 2000, the organizational structure of the faculties in Basic Units of Administrative Academic Management (UBGAA) was regulated and the Department of Civil Engineering became the Department of Civil and Agricultural Engineering, comprising the civil engineering and agricultural engineering programs. In their undergraduate and postgraduate programs, the professors of the agricultural engineering career became part of the new Agricultural Academic Section.
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