October 2015    

REGION UPDATE—JULY 2015 BOARD MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
Through Strategic Discussions, ASCE Board Takes On the Future

John A. Frauenhoffer, P.E., S.E., M.ASCE, your Region 3 Director, is a member of the Central Illinois Section.  John represented you at the Oct. 10-11 Board meeting in New York City, held in conjunction with the new ASCE 2015 Convention. The Convention featured a new format – an array of tours, courses, sessions, and speakers focused on key themes vital to today’s civil engineer. The excitement of Times Square as well as the chance to see the many marvels of civil engineering achievement in the New York area made for a great week and further inspired the Board members’ work in guiding ASCE and the profession.

ASCE’s incoming officers participated in the meeting as observers and were formally installed Oct. 13 at the annual business meeting. This was John’s last Board meeting as your Region director. Please welcome  George A. Ghareeb, P.E., M.ASCE to that role and wishJohn the best.

Among the many issues discussed at the October Board meeting, the Task Committee on Governance Activity Review recommended and received approval on several actions aimed at improving and assisting ASCE’s work at the Region level. 
  • The Board approved the creation of a new task committee to study the revision of ASCE’s Geographic Region boundaries. This will seek to more appropriately balance the number of members in each Region while better aligning communities with common experiences and common needs. Currently, the number of members assigned to each Geographic Region ranges from 9,688 to 23,917.
  •  The new task committee was also charged with bringing forward a proposal to reduce the total number of Regions by one (and thus the number of region directors by one) to allow for another technical region director to be added to the Board without increasing its overall size.  In anticipation of this eventual reduction in geographic regions and related Board seats, the Board authorized proceeding with putting the Constitutional amendment required to add a third technical region director on the 2016 election ballot. 
  •  The Task Committee on Governance Activity outlined core activities for Geographic Regions and Geographic Region Directors and Governors. This list consolidates into one easily referenced document those activities, including those already underway in many Regions, such as hosting Region meetings, awards, developing future leaders, maintaining Region web pages, and nominating members for Society and Institute committees.
  • The Committee also recommended that funding be built into the 2017 ASCE budget for an annual agenda of interaction and training options for ASCE Geographic Region Directors, who serve as the Geographic Region Board of Governors chairs.
  • The Board also approved a new Region funding model for future years, including travel reimbursement and an annual allotment.

Read more about the Board meeting, including its strategic planning actions, in ASCE News.

Board members are interested in your views on the issues they are considering. To share your views, or other ideas on how ASCE can better serve its members and the profession, please email John.

Great outreach event or other activity? Let the whole Region know!

If you’re a local ASCE leader and your Section, Branch, Younger Member Group, or Student Chapter has staged any special events, engaged in outreach from grade-school kids to lawmakers, done charity work, fund raising or anything of the sort, let ASCEnews Weekly know and we may include it in next month’s Region report. You may already have written about it and posted pictures in your newsletter, website, or social media. Share the details and any photos at asce.org/localnews. Got questions? Write to submissions@asce.org.


See the other Region reports for October
If you live adjacent to a Section in a different Region, or are merely interested in the other Region reports for October, click on each to view them:
 
Region 1   Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section, Buffalo Section, Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers Section, Ithaca Section, Maine Section, Metropolitan Section, Mohawk-Hudson Section, New Hampshire Section, New Jersey Section, Puerto Rico Section, Rhode Island Section, Rochester Section, Syracuse Section, Vermont Section 

Region 2   Central Pennsylvania Section, Delaware Section, Lehigh Valley Section, Maryland Section, National Capital Section, Philadelphia Section, Pittsburgh Section

Region 3   Akron-Canton Section, Central Illinois Section, Central Ohio Section, Cincinnati Section, Cleveland Section, Dayton Section, Duluth Section, Illinois Section, Michigan Section, Minnesota Section, North Dakota Section, Quad Cities Section, Toledo Section, Wisconsin Section

Region 4   Arkansas Section, Indiana Section, Kentucky Section, North Carolina Section, South Carolina Section, Tennessee Section, Virginia Section, West Virginia Section

Region 5   Alabama Section, Florida Section, Georgia Section, Louisiana Section, Mississippi Section
 
Region 6   New Mexico Section, Oklahoma Section, Texas Section

Region 7   Colorado Section, Iowa Section, Kansas City Section, Kansas Section, Nebraska Section, South Dakota Section, St. Louis Section, Wyoming Section

Region 8   Alaska Section, Arizona Section, Columbia Section, Hawaii Section, Inland Empire Section, Montana Section, Nevada Section, Oregon Section, Seattle Section, Southern Idaho Section, Tacoma-Olympia Section, Utah Section 

Region 9   Los Angeles Section, Sacramento Section, San Diego Section, San Francisco Section

Region 10  All International Sections, Branches, and Groups


Missed last month's Region 3 update?
See the September edition of  News Around Region 3

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REGION 3 NEWS
Region 3 represents at ASCE 2015 Convention


Photo: David Hathcox for ASCE

The ASCE 2015 Convention gathered civil engineers from around the world in New York City, Oct. 11-14, for a new format of sessions, tours, courses and networking events. Region 3 was well-represented, including Jimmy Bennett of the Minnesota Section, pictured here with Deidre Beck, a Student Member at South Dakota State University. Read more about the Convention in ASCE News.  
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OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT CHAPTER
Buckeyes stack up success


Courtesy Student Chapter of ASCE at Ohio State

Ohio State student members of ASCE work together to build a tower out of plastic cups during the group’s second general meeting of the school year.