Our MissionEpsilon Lambda Chi provides a means of unifying leaders in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. As a unified body, Epsilon Lambda Chi offers an effective group of proven leaders to facilitate other leaders in the college in reaching their goals. Epsilon Lambda Chi aims to constantly provide a strong effective leadership to the College of Engineering.
The Circle seeks to promote the general welfare of the various societies in the College of Engineering. Epsilon Lambda Chi members strive to remain the best source of information of "how to get things done" in the college. |
ELC Today |
Membership in Epsilon Lambda Chi is the highest recognition available in engineering for outstanding leaders at the University of Florida. The Circle recognizes, because of the demands of the profession, that being a leader in engineering is more difficult than in other professions. We also recognize that such leaders are central to the well-being of the profession and its impact on the community as a whole. Therefore, the Circle seeks to honor those individuals who have demonstrated the qualities of outstanding leadership.
Members are able to draw on their own experience to the benefit of engineering societies or to refer problems to the appropriate authority. Members of the Circle, either as individuals or as a group, often have access to or influence in places where others may not. By working in these areas, members are able to promote the efforts of the various engineering societies and attempt to reduce the problems involved in being an engineering leader. |
Our History |
By the 1970's, the field of Engineering had expanded to include a broad spectrum of interests and the profession was growing steadily. It was felt that there was a need to distinguish the truly outstanding leaders in the field to provide a means of unifying these leaders and to utilize their talents to promote the welfare of the profession. In the spring of 1971, Thomas E. Wade, an active student leader at the University of Florida, along with a number of engineering student leaders, approached key faculty members in the College of Engineering with the concept of an Engineering Leadership Honor Society. The idea gained support and the group of students and faculty met to form Epsilon Lambda Chi.
This group established the structure of the Circle and the requirements for membership. Since the number of disciplines and organizations in Engineering, with their accompanying leadership positions, was already quite large the Circle's membership must be truly selective. Accordingly, the total active membership of the circle was limited to a maximum of 2% of the population of the membership of the College of Engineering student body. The selection of honorary membership to the Circle was limited to a maximum of two new members per year. With the basic structure of Epsilon Lambda Chi set, the group proposed a constitution and set of by-laws. They then selected the Circle's first members. This charter membership of 18 students and 4 faculty members was announced at the College of Engineering's Annual Tau Beta Pi Scholarship Breakfast on May 20, 1971. The first invitation ceremony of the newly founded Circle was held on June 3, 1971. The charter membership with Tom Wade as president met through the summer to complete the organizational work. The group adopted the Circle's original constitution and by-laws and designed the seal, badge and certificates of membership. The Circle was firmly established with the first regular tapping of members the following fall. |