William L. Everitt, 1900 - 1986

William Litell Everitt was born on 14 April 1900, in Baltimore, Maryland. During World War I he served in the U. S. Marine Corps from 1918 to 1919. At the war's conclusion, he matriculated at Cornell University, where he taught electrical engineering from 1920 until he received the E.E. degree in 1922. In that year he joined the North Electric Manufacturing Company of Galion, Ohio, as engineer in charge of the design and development of their relay automatic public switchboard exchanges. He left in 1924 to teach electrical engineering at the University of Michigan, transferring to Ohio State University in 1926 -the year in which he received the M.A. from Michigan- to take charge of their communications engineering staff in the capacity of assistant professor.

During the summers from 1925 to 1930, Everitt served with the department of development and research of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Joining the Institute of Radio Engineers as an Associate Member in 1925, he became a Member in 1929, and also was elevated to the rank of associate professor at Ohio State in that year. In 1933 he received the Ph.D. degree and was promoted to a full professorship. At Ohio State he originated and directed the annual Broadcast Engineering Conference, in which the IRE participated. He became a Fellow of the IRE in 1938.

In 1940 Everitt was appointed a member of the Communications Section of the National Defense Research Committee. Two years later he took a of absence from the University to serve as director of operational research with the U. S. Army Signal Corps. He was appointed head of the University of Illinois electrical engineering department in absentia 1943, and at the war's conclusion he took up his duties there. Effective September 1,1949, he will become Dean of the University of Illinois' engineering college.

The author and editor of numerous texts and articles on electrical engineering, Everitt has been consultant for various broadcast stations and radio manufacturing companies. He was President of the IRE in 1945 and has been a member of a number of committees. Everitt is also a Fellow of AIEE, a member of the National Council of Tau Beta Pi, and a member of Sigma Xi, Eta Kappa Nu and the Acoustical Society of America, the Society of Engineering Education, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the IRE Medal of Honor in 1954, "For his distinguished career as author, educator and scientist; for his contributions in establishing electronics and communications as a major branch of electrical engineering; for his unselfish service to his country; for his leadership in the affairs of The Institute of Radio Engineers."

He passed away on 6 September 1986.

Life-long learning is real for all engineers, giving credence to William L. Everitt's words, "Engineering is not only a learned profession, it is also a learning profession, one whose practitioners first become and then remain students throughout their active careers."