At a special meeting of the Board of Trustees held on March 19, 1921, the reverend Fathers unanimously agreed with Professor Dunn to start a program in Aeronautical Engineering. Professor Dunn had been with the Aviation Division during World War I. Specialized instruction in aeronautics fell to Professor Clarence H. Powell who had been associated in England with the National Physical Laboratories and the Sopwith Aeroplane Company. In 1922 Aeronautical Engineering was added and was one of the first three programs in the country. In 1930, with 1,400 enrolled in engineering, 500 were in the aeronautical engineering program.

In spite of the many years of success of students from the program, the rapid advancement and developement of larger planes of the aerospace industry made the cost to update the facilities prohibitive. The program was dropped in June 1965.