Our Mission

The Engineering Leadership Circle provides a means of unifying leaders in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. As a unified body, ELC offers an effective group of proven leaders to facilitate other leaders in the college in reaching their goals. ELC aims to constantly provide 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. ELC members strive to remain the best source of information on "how to get things done" in the college.

Our History

By the 1970s, 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 met to form Epsilon Lambda Chi.

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.

ELC Today

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.

Our Motto

"Honoring the Past, Leading the Present, Forming the Future"