Meanwhile, in step with changes in curriculums in mainland universities, a gradual change was taking place in the civil engineering curriculum. More engineering science courses were included in the curriculum at the expense of pre-calculus mathematics, surveying, and some of the electrical and mechanical engineering courses previously required in the civil engineering curriculum. A Master's degree in engineering, with professional experience and a professional engineer's license, had been considered adequate qualification for a faculty appointment but higher academic qualification now became desirable. Dr. Shigeo Okubo was the first member of the engineering faculty with a doctor's degree. He was followed by Fujio Matsuda, Stephen Lau, Arthur Chiu, Mateo Go and others until about half of the faculty had doctor's degrees in their fields. The faculty was also enriched by a system of visiting professors. President Sinclair had obtained a generous grant from Carnegie Foundation for a succession of distinguished visiting professors, spread out over several years, and engineering received its fair share. Visiting professors in engineering included L. E. Grinter, Charles Norris, Harold Martin, Henry Gomberg, and Wilbur Meserve, each of whom taught engineering classes, often scheduled in the late afternoon so they could be taken by practicing engineers as well as senior engineering students.

The year Hawai`i became a state (1959) was also a banner year in the development of the College of Engineering. Keller Hall, a classroom and faculty office building for engineering and mathematics, was completed. This made space available in the old engineering quadrangle for electrical engineering laboratories. It thus became possible to offer a curriculum in Electrical Engineering, a development that had been too long deferred by lack of space and lack of funds. The engineering enrollment that year numbered 761 students. There were 71 Bachelor of Science degrees in Civil Engineering and 14 in General Engineering awarded in 1959. The University expended in that year, for Education and General, $10,563,532. Engineering's share was $277,263, including an extraordinary equipment budget of $52,464 to provide for equipment for the new electrical engineering laboratories. Keller Hall cost $632,211 and the book value of all University buildings, great and small, was then $10,305,052.

Under the direction of Ralph Partridge at first, and later under Paul Yuen, the electrical engineering curriculum developed rapidly. In 1961 the first group of 15 electrical engineers graduated. The next year (1962) the Engineers' Council for Professional Development accredited the electrical engineering curriculum. A curriculum in mechanical engineering was first offered in 1960 and in 1963 the first group of three mechanical engineers graduated.

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