Summer 2025 closure

The D. H. Hill Jr. Library will be closed beginning on Monday, May 5, 2025, for planned electrical work. The Special Collections Research Center is located in Hill Library, and will be closed for all appointments during this period. Special Collections can only make appointment requests until April 25th and after August 3, 2025. During the closure, Special Collections staff will be available to answer questions about our collections, if they are accessible, and to support researchers using digital materials for their research. Some materials will not be available for reproduction requests. Please contact us!

Babcock, W. F. (Willard F.), 1917-1991

Biographical Note:
Professor for the Department of Civil Engineering from 1940-1957. On June 17, 1957 he was appointed by Governor Hodges to be State Highway Director for which he served until 1967. He returned to NCSU in 1969 and taught until 1974 when he became Director of the Institute of Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) where he served until his retirement in 1984. During his career he was the recipient of numerous awards including seven teaching awards, NCSU Alumni Distinguished Professor Award, the Western Electric Award of the Southeast Section of the American Society for Engineering Education, and the James Laurie Prize of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1978 as the Outstanding Transportation Engineer nationally. He was a member of many professional societies and two honor societies; Theta Tau, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi and Chi Epsilon National Scholastic Fraternity in Civil Engineering for which he served as National Vice President and National President Supreme Council Southern District from 1950-1958. He died in 1991 and his children established the Bill Babcock Scholarship in his memory. He was inducted into the North Carolina Transportation Hall of Fame in 2007.
Birth Date:
1917
Death Date:
1991