CEE VISITING COMMITTEE Richard Bub President, Graef Anhalt Schloemer Milwaukee, Wisconsin Roger Cooley Senior Project Manager, Wade Trim & Associates Detroit, Michigan Roderick K. Davey Mining Consultant Salt Lake City, Utah Michael Davy President, Davy Engineering Co. LaCrosse, Wisconsin Deanna Dietrich Associate Dean, UW-Madison College of Engineering Norm Doll President, Pieper Power Milwaukee, Wisconsin Miki Ferenczy President, Pangaea Information Technologies Chicago, Illinois Gilbert Gerdman CEO, MSA Professional Services Baraboo, Wisconsin Valarie King-Bailey President, OnShore Technology Group Chicago, Illinois Larry Lunda President, Lunda Construction Black River Falls, Wisconsin John McKenzie Vice President of Construction, Opus Corporation Minnetonka, Minnesota William Mielke President & CEO, Ruekert & Mielke Inc., Waukesha, Wisconsin Kurt Ochalla MMA Financial LLC Boston, Massachusetts Michael Oneby Project Engineer, Earth Tech Milwaukee, Wisconsin Ned Paschke Senior Consultant, Mead and Hunt Inc. Madison, Wisconsin Bill Rickert President, Rezek Henry Meisenheimer & Gende Inc. Libertyville, Illinois Larry Roth Deputy Executive Director, ASCE Reston, Virginia Larry J. Scully President & CEO, Scully Capitol Services Inc., Washington, D.C. Frank Sherkow (CEE Visiting Committee Chair) AZTEC Engineering Corona, California Jo Claire Tucker Naples, Florida Tom Wolf President, STS Consultants Vernon Hills, Illinois

Visiting Committee steps up to support Civil & Environmental Engineering
Message from the CEE Visiting Committee Chair

n behalf of the department’s visiting committee, here is a brief update of what we are doing to support the department and its goals. The committee consists of two dozen alumni and supporters. We meet twice a year and interact with the department on various levels. Recently, we reorganized and began working to strongly support the department’s strategic plan and the ABET process.

The committee is responsible for providing:

• Advice from alumni, engineering practitioners, industry and business leaders

• A connection between our faculty and students and industries and agencies

• Leadership to department alumni in the form of service and financial support

In addition, the committee is assisting the department in the following areas:

• Reviewing the department’s strategic plan and programs and identifying areas of opportunity

• Helping the department find creative approaches to increase its resources

• Providing guidance, insight and feedback on the department’s teaching and research programs

• Helping the department develop policies or procedures to ensure its curriculum is providing students the education that their employers expect

• Working to support the department within UW-Madison

• Assisting in raising the visibility of the department and the UW-Madison College of Engineering throughout the region and the nation.

The committee is focusing on three of the seven areas of the department’s strategic plan. These areas include improving the department’s reputation and standing, developing an overall research program, and improving the department’s funding and fiscal stability.

We are working toward several goals for our October meeting. First, we will support the department’s ABET accreditation process, working with its ABET committee to have a successful accreditation process in 2006. Alumni, faculty, student and employer input is very important.

Second, we will make progress on the department’s strategic plan and its implementation. In the area of the department’s reputation, we will work toward raising the department into the top 10 CE programs in the country, including key faculty hires, diversifying the student base, and educating the “market” concerning what UW CEE has done and is doing.

In the area of the research program, we have suggested looking at larger grants, leveraging centers of excellence, and developing cross-disciplinary research. Key faculty hires and financial support are important here, as well.

As Wisconsin funding to UW-Madison continues to shrink, the department is more dependent on research grants, centers and gifts. We will be working to establish a current database of alumni, asking those who already give to UW-Madison to target their gifts to CEE; making more industry contacts, increasing grants, and improving communications with our stakeholders.

There is much interaction among these three strategic areas. Our ability to make progress will depend on everyone’s help. If you wish to offer comments or suggestions in these three areas, please forward them to russell@engr.wisc.edu. Your ideas and input are very welcome.

Frank Sherkow, CEE Visiting Committee Chair
Phone: 949/500-7878
E-mail: fsherkow@aztec.us

College of Engineering   Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering   University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Copyright 2005 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

Date last modified: Monday, 6-June-2005 15:43:00 CDT
Date created: 6-June-2005