Vision
“Positively Impacting Civil Engineering in the River Region”
Mission
To uphold and enhance the integrity and ethics of the civil engineering profession; to serve engineers and the community; to foster professional interaction between students, younger members, and experienced professionals; and to instill enthusiasm in the profession and branch membership
Goals
- Provide outreach and promote civil engineering to students in the River Region
- Provide technical presentations and opportunities to the Branch Members for Professional Continuing Education
- Promote awareness to engineers of ongoing projects in the Branch Area
About the Branch
History of the Montgomery Branch
The Montgomery Branch of the ASCE was started in 1984 when over 30 people assisted in establishing the branch. It required a petition to the National ASCE and a multiple number of signatures. The Branch has a storied history and continues to be an active professional organization within the River Region. The area of the Montgomery Branch consists of Autauga, Elmore, Lowndes and Montgomery. The mission of the branch is the advancement of the science and profession of engineering, in a manner consistent with the objectives of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The Montgomery Branch is a member of the Alabama Section which started in 1956, and now has over 1200 members statewide. The Alabama Section is a part of Region 5, which consist of the Alabama Section, Florida Section, Georgia Section, Louisiana Section, and Mississippi Section.
Branch Bylaws
The current bylaws that the Montgomery Branch of ASCE operates by was voted on and approved in March 2001. Bylaws may be adopted or amended only by the following procedure. The proposed Bylaw or amendment shall be voted upon by a majority of the subscribing members of the Branch. To become effective it shall receive an affirmative vote of not less than a majority of the subscribing members voting, and the approval of the Board of Directors of the Alabama Section.
History of ASCE
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Based in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering society in the United States.
ASCE was founded in New York City on November 5, 1852, when twelve engineers—Julius W. Adams, J. W. Ayres, Alfred W. Craven, Thomas A. Emmet, Edward Gardiner, Robert B. Gorsuch, George S. Greene, James Laurie, W. H. Morell, S. S. Post, W. H. Talcott, and W. H. Sidell—met at the offices of the Croton Aqueduct and formed the American Society of Civil Engineers and Architects. It was the first national engineering society created in the United States. In 1869 the “Architects” was dropped from the name, as the architects formed their own society, the American Institute of Architects, in 1857.
As part of understanding the history of civil engineering and promoting the civil engineering profession, a survey of the historic accomplishments of civil engineers is continually conducted by ASCE members. Such reviews of civil engineering accomplishments have produced various lists of the notable categories and projects of the profession.
During the 1925 Mid-South convention of the ASCE, held in Memphis, Tennessee, engineers and their families were invited on a sightseeing trip aboard two ships. These ships, Choctaw and M.E. Norman, were operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The M.E. Norman, a steamship, capsized and sank in the Mississippi River, resulting in the deaths of 23 passengers and crew, including former ASCE president Paul Howes Norcross.
The prospect of a new millennium led the ASCE to reflect upon the civil engineering achievements of the 20th century with two events. First, the Millennium Challenge in 1999 identified the top-ten “civil engineering achievements that had the greatest positive impact on life in the 20th century”, which were to be “broad categories”, rather than “individual achievements”, which were reserved for the second event. Monuments of the Millennium selected and recognized feats of civil engineering that demonstrated a “combination of technical engineering achievement, courage and inspiration, and a dramatic influence on the development of their communities”.