News & Press


Available Titles:
  • - May 2008
  • - December 2007
  • - April 2007
Richard Anderson To Head ABET

FPP Past President (2007) Richard O. "Rich" Anderson, P.E. (Somat Engineering, Inc.) has been named 2003-2009 President-Elect of ABET. Formerly the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, ABET is the recognized accrediting agency for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology. A federation of 31 professional and technical societies, ABET accredits some 2,500 programs at more than 550 colleges and universities nationwide. Rich will take office in November 2008. As President-Elect, he will chair the Educational Policy Committee and will serve as the 2009 ABET Annual Meeting Program Chair.

The Foundation for Professional Practice Appoints President and Executive Director


William P. Henry, P.E.

Walter T. Marlowe, P.E.
The Foundation for Professional Practice appointed William P. Henry, P.E. as president and Walter T. Marlowe, P.E. as executive director of the Foundation. Both assumed their positions during the Foundation's annual meeting in December 2007.

The Foundation for Professional Practice was formed in 2007 by ASCE, ASFE (The Association for the Success of professional Firms improving the natural and built Environments), and the Institute for Professional Practice. The Foundation provides educational programs, services and materials that focus on business and professional practice issues, ethics and leadership in order to encourage and support lifelong learning to students, practicing engineers and scientists.

Henry's experience includes more than 36 years in the engineering-construction industry in the Seattle, San Francisco, Denver and Washington, D.C., areas, primarily on water resources and environmental projects. Henry is currently the marketing manager for the Seattle office of Schaaf & Wheeler Consulting Civil Engineers, a firm that focuses its practice in water resources engineering. He received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Cornell University, a master's degree in civil engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA in finance from George Mason University.

Henry is a Fellow of ASCE and has served as a past ASCE National Director. He is also a frequent contributor to ASCE's Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice. Henry is licensed engineer in California, Washington, Oregon and Colorado. "I am very happy to be working through the Foundation on the important issues of advancing ethics, leadership and professionalism within the engineering and scientific community," said Henry.

Marlowe was previously ASCE's senior director of international activities, supporting more than 13,000 internationally-based members. In addition, he served as the content manager for CE World: ASCE's First Virtual Congress for Civil Engineering.

Prior to joining ASCE in 2006, Marlowe served as associate executive director of the National Society of Professional Engineers. Marlowe is an alumnus of Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J. where he earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree. He also holds an MBA degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. "Engineers and scientists have been held in high esteem over the years due to their high standards. However, we are not immune to these ethical challenges we have seen arise in business recently," said Marlowe. "The Foundation is poised to make the highest quality educational material available to our professionals in order to continue to increase their ethics and leadership skills."

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MOU Formally Establishes Foundation For Professional Practice
Reprinted with permission from ASCE News

A memorandum of understanding for the new Foundation for Professional Practice (FPP) was signed on March 5 by representatives of ASCE, the ASFE, and the Institute of Professional Practice (IPP). The agreement formalizes the strategic alliance established by the organizations in September 2006. (Based in Silver Spring, Maryland, the ASFE is an association of professional firms practicing in the natural and built environments that was formerly known as the Associated Soil and Foundation Engineers but is now known simply as ASFE.)


photo credit: David Hathcox

The memorandum of understanding formally establishing the Foundation for Professional Practice was signed by, from left, James E. Davis, ASCE's executive director; President H. Gerard Schwartz, Jr.; Harold J. Farchmin, the president of the IPP; W. Jerrold Samford, the president of the ASFE; and John P. Bachner, the ASFE?s executive vice president.
The mission of the new foundation is to provide educational programs, services, and materials that focus on business and professional practice issues, ethics, and leadership in order to encourage and support lifelong learning among students and practicing engineers and scientists. The FPP subsumes and expands the efforts of the IPP, which was created by the ASFE in 1989 to focus on ethics and professional practice issues.

The IPP began with outreach efforts to educators and students and evolved to include a focus on practitioners, says John Bachner, the executive vice president of the ASFE. The FPP will continue this dual approach by providing products and services to professional engineers while stepping up efforts to make engineering students aware of the importance of developing and enhancing their leadership and personal skills, Bachner says.

The FPP plans to develop many programs and publications for engineers, including a 90-hour project management training program; publications on alternative dispute resolution, contracts, and case histories; and audio programs on tape and compact disc dealing with professional development topics, Bachner says. In addition the foundation plans to interview leading civil engineers on professional development issues and create a videotape archive.

The organization also aims to recruit engineers as volunteers who will travel to college campuses and meet with students to discuss the importance of leadership and personal skills. Bachner notes that although "engineers are technical professionals in the people business," engineering students today are faced with more and more technical requirements, leaving them less time to develop skills in such important areas as business development, communications, and management. Exposing students to the broad array of challenges?both technical and nontechnical?that they can expect to encounter during their careers will help them become better prepared for a future in engineering, Bachner argues.

ASCE's president, H. Gerard Schwartz, Jr., notes that the agreement represents the culmination of about two years of effort by the different organizations. The idea behind the FPP is a "wonderful one" and ASCE is "delighted" to be a part of it, Schwartz says.

Robert Bein, ASCE's immediate past president, agrees. "ASCE is based on education," he says. "We pride ourselves on being on the cutting edge of civil engineering education. One of the most important points is what the FPP does. To have them in the fold brings us closer to ASFE. If ASCE can continue to work with other organizations, it's going to strengthen us."

William Henry, a former chairman of ASCE's Committee on Professional Practice and a member of the FPP's Board of Governors, says that the FPP's creation is particularly timely because the treatment of ethical issues in business is by no means consistent throughout the world. The new foundation will seek to address this issue through education and outreach, he says.

The FPP's Board of Governors comprises 10 members: 3 are elected by the ASCE Board of Direction, 3 are elected by the ASFE board. These six then elect a seventh. In addition, the deputy executive director of ASCE and the executive vice president of the ASFE ex officio are voting members. Tony Wintz, ASCE's director of professional practice and assistant general counsel, serves as the FPP's executive director and is a nonvoting member of its board.

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