Summary Notes on ASCE Seattle Conference - 18-22 October 2000

We arrived in Seattle in the evening on Wednesday, 18 October 2000. I registered early in the morning on Thursday, October 19. In the following, I summarized those sessions that I attended there.

1.      Session PP2/SP1 was well attended with approximately 150 people there. Aggie Frank Lane Lynch and several fellow panelists spoke on mentoring. Many people participated in the discussion following their presentations.

2.      President Delon Hampton gave an excellent speech, and he was courageous to criticize the society on several issues while he was pleased with the progress made on others. It was followed by a keynote speech on "Building Big" along with video tapes.

3.      During Session EC1 after lunch, Jose Roesset and Mumtaz Usmen presided.  Panelists briefly presented their ideas on faculty roles in CE education: Vince Drnevich and Mumtaz Usmen presented their viewpoints as department heads, Ernie Smerden presented his viewpoints as a former dean and someone from the NSF, Jim Yao and Jose Roesset presented their viewpoints as faculty members. Approximately 30-50 people attended this session, and many of the participants voiced their opinions during the discussion following these presentations.

4.      I attended the Session EC4 on faculty development that was chaired by Greg Reed.  Marc Hoit, Stephen Ressler and others spoke at this session.

5.      On Friday, I attended Session EC 6 that was the forum of the ASCE Department Heads Council all morning. Many interesting issues were discussed there.

6.      I also attended the Session EC8/PP8 on the first professional degree that was chaired by Mike Walton. Lou Graef and Jeff Russell spoke. Their presentations were followed by many discussions from the audience. The entire session was recorded.

7.      On Saturday, I attended Session EC9 on practitioner in classroom. It was interesting and I learned a great deal from speakers and discussions from the audience alike.

8.      During the Education Lunch, Rose Roesset and I received the Best Paper Award of the Journal of Professional Issues. Bob Holtz was the speaker, and he gave an excellent speech on the first professional degree.

9.      We attended the Gala Banquet in the evening on Saturday and left early for the travel on the next day. On Sunday, we came home without any difficulties in Seattle. However, the weather conditions at DFW airport was bad. The landing was delayed, so was the flight to College Station. The DFW airport was closed at least twice when we were there. I was very happy to come home late that night after many delays.

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