F. Jay Burress, P.E., M. ASCE, your Region 7, Director, is a member of the Kansas City Section and is a senior project manager at Shafer, Kline & Warren, Inc. (SKW).

Jay represented you at the ASCE Board of Direction meeting on January 8 in Miami, held in conjunction with the first of three Multi-Region Leadership Conferences. These conferences bring together Section, Branch and Region leaders, along with leaders from student chapters and Younger Member Groups.

Vibrant, sunny Miami proved to be an ideal location for the MRLC, which offered sessions aimed at improving management of ASCE entities and on developing leadership skills for all career phases. Board members appreciated the opportunity to hear firsthand about challenges, concerns and aspirations from so many different ASCE members, and found the conference environment to be energizing.

After welcoming its newest board members, installed at the ASCE business meeting in October, and its new executive director, Tom Smith, the board worked through an agenda that included both business actions and strategic discussions.

Among the business conducted, the board:

• Was notified by the Nominating Committee that two official nominees were selected for the upcoming election for the office of ASCE president-elect:  Norma Jean Mattei, PhD, P.E., F.SEI, M.ASCE, and Thomas R. Walther, P.E., F.ASCE
  
  
• Approved two new Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks
  
  
• Approved the establishment of two new ASCE awards honoring achievement in the fields of risk analysis and management and failure and damage prevention
  
  
• Approved rules to establish a new technical division on infrastructure resilience
  

A substantial portion of the board’s agendas have been devoted to strategic discussions with Society Committees. During this meeting, the board heard from the chair of the Committee on Education, Norman D.  Dennis, PhD, P.E., F.ASCE, who identified a number of issues related to the future of engineering education. Most significant were proposed changes to ABET governance that, if approved, could greatly diminish ASCE’s influence on civil engineering program criteria in the future. The board will conduct a more extensive discussion of this issue at an upcoming meeting.

The board also spent some time developing and discussing a set of core values that would guide its interaction as a board. Civil engineering is a profession grounded in ethical practice and professionalism, and ASCE is well-served by its Code of Ethics, vision, and mission. A set of core values would complement these by establishing a common understanding of how the board pledges to function in its work together and with constituents throughout the Society to cultivate a climate of excellence, teamwork and integrity. Based on the positive discussion at this meeting, the board expects to adopt a set of core values at a future meeting.

Board members are interested in your views on the issues they are considering. To share your views, or other ideas on how ASCE can better serve its members and the profession, please email Jay.