MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
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CEE GOLF OUTING
Please mark your calendar for
Monday, Sept. 11, 2006 for the 10th
annual CEE Golf Outing. The golf event will exceed your expectations.
We expect to fill two 18-hole golf courses with students, alumni,
and industry partners totaling close to 300 people. There will
be a live auction like you have never seen before with items
including UW football, basketball, and hockey tickets; Green
Bay Packer tickets; and many other items of high value and interest.
Please try to attend as we need to connect with alumni and industry
leaders. If you cannot make it, consider donating something
of value for the auction or becoming an event sponsor.
Visit www.engr.wisc.edu/cee/CEEGolfOuting2006.pdf
for more information. We hope to raise more than $50,000
for the department at this event.
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 he spring semester has finished. Some students
are completing yet another semester of their program, while some are
completing their final semester at UW-Madison and moving on to another
phase of their lives. (The department awarded 52 bachelor’s degrees
this spring and will award another six bachelor’s degrees this
summer). As our former president John F. Kennedy said:
“The only constant is change.” And so it is for all
the students, faculty, staff, graduates and industry partners.
The spring semester has been marked by a number of
key events, including alumni and industry receptions in Washington,
D.C., Minneapolis, and Chicago; the ASCE
Great Lakes Regional Competition; Assistant Professor Jessica
Guo’s arrival as a new faculty member; Steven Lohiede’s
offer and acceptance to join the faculty this upcoming October; our
ranking of 14th in the U.S. News and World Report;
Engineers
Without Borders’ recent service trip to El Salvador; and Professors
Alan
Vonderohe and Frank
Scarpace’s retirement.
The students continue to transform the department
with their contagious esprit de corps. The
work of the ASCE
student chapter (including the UW Steel Bridge
and Concrete
Canoe teams), the UW-Madison Transportation
Society, Chi Epsilon, and the Construction Club continue to provide
leadership opportunities for our students. Each group is involved in
service-related activities and a guest speaker series that allows practitioners
to share their knowledge and experience.
We are preparing for our ABET accreditation visit
in the fall of 2006. Professors John
Hoopes and Hussain
Bahia are leading our team with significant help from department
administrator Marsha
Landretti and information systems specialist Dixie
Lang. The CEE Visiting Committee has also helped us get ready by
reviewing the draft self-study document. We are looking forward to the
review and the feedback on how we can improve our program.
The 2006
Great Lakes Regional Competition was a huge success. Seniors Amy
Roth and Linda Vanevenhoven were co-chairs
of the event, which had a great turnout. The UW Steel
Bridge and Concrete
Canoe teams won their respective events and are preparing for the
national competitions. We are expecting success in both events.
From the development perspective, we have raised
$300,000 in the past six months. Gifts range from $7,500 to $50,000
over multiple years. We would like to thank MSA Professional Services,
John Nelson, Lou Graef, Arthur Hawnn, J.P. Cullen & Sons Inc., M.A.
Mortenson Co., William Mielke, William Rickard, Keith and Chris Garnett,
Erick Laine, Jerry and Carol Mullins, Terry Kennedy, Rod Davey, Aaron
Staab, Renee Dupuis and Jim Vaughan. Thanks to the many others who also
have made gifts to advance the department.
As we look to the future, we need to encourage more
students to consider engineering as a career. If you have contacts with
a local K-12 school system, please use them to talk about careers in
engineering (as well as in math and science). Please let us know how
we can help you.
We need to renew our effort to build a stronger
pipeline of students. We also need to create a more diverse workforce.
A diverse student body is the future of our profession!
Please stop in and see us if you are in the Madison
area. We are always glad to see our graduates and friends.
On Wisconsin!
Respectfully Yours,
Jeffrey
S. Russell, PhD, P.E., F., ASCE
2205 Engineering Hall
1415 Engineering Dr.
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: 608/262-7244
Fax: 608/262-5199
E-mail:
russell@engr.wisc.edu
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