National ASCE President visits Alabama Section Summer Meeting

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The leader of the nation’s oldest engineering society met with members and students of the Alabama Section and several local public officials during a visit to Alabama’s Gulf Coast on July 19 to 22, 2016.

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Mr. Mark Woodson, 2016 President of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), made a much‑anticipated visit to the Gulf Coast Region of Alabama to speak at the ASCE and American Public Work Association (APWA) Joint Summer Meeting in July 2016.  The Executive Board of the Alabama Section of ASCE established a robust and interesting itinerary for Mr. Woodson to provide him with the maximum possible exposure to civil engineering successes, opportunities, and challenges in Alabama. On July 20, Mr. Woodson toured the Airbus A320 facility, a $600-million, 53-acre manufacturing plant, at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley Field. Also during his time in Alabama, Mr. Woodson was able to conduct multiple key leader meetings with the City of Mobile, the City of Orange Beach, and Baldwin County local officials.  Mr. Woodson participated in a roundtable discussion

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Mr. Woodson’s Presentation to the Alabama Section on July 21, 2016. (Click on image to view .pdf)

at University of South Alabama that included members from the Alabama Department of Transportation, the Mobile Area Water & Sewer System, the Alabama State Docks (Port of Mobile), the Associated General Contractors of America, the US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, and the Mobile Chamber of Commerce.

On July 21, Mr. Woodson delivered the keynote address to the Joint Summer Meeting for ASCE and APWA. Mr. Woodson’s speech focused on ASCE’s strategic initiatives, which include Sustainable Infrastructure, Raise the Bar, and the Grand Challenge.  Mr. Woodson also updated the audience on ASCE’s Failure to Act initiatives and the status of the upcoming 2017 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. Following his speech, Mr. Woodson participated in multiple events throughout the conference. He presented the 2015-2016 Alabama ASCE Student Civil Engineer of the Year award to Ms. Yasmeen Arafeh of University of Alabama at Birmingham, which included a $4,750 scholarship. Mr. Woodson also assisted in swearing in new ASCE Alabama Section officers for 2017, Mr. Frank Summers, Vice President, and Mr. Alan Parker, President-Elect.

Shelia Montgomery Mills, President of the Alabama Section of ASCE, noted the following about Mr. Woodson’s visit:

“It was a great pleasure to have a sitting ASCE president visit Alabama and attend our Section meeting as many of us were afforded the opportunity to spend more time with Mr. Woodson than what has been possible at any other ASCE event that he has attended.  I enjoyed learning more about how his home branch and section of ASCE operate, what he has learned while visiting many other sections and branches, his insights from those experiences, and how we might use that knowledge within the Alabama Section.  I personally wanted to learn more of what it has been like for Mr. Woodson to serve at the highest levels of ASCE and was thrilled when he freely took time to share his thoughts.  Mr. Woodson made the 2016 Summer Meeting special for many attendees.  He was a great guest to have with us, an inspiring keynote speaker, and thoroughly enjoyable while on his many adventures with Section Leadership.”

The Alabama Section of ASCE is very grateful to Mr. Woodson for setting aside time from his busy schedule to visit with ASCE and APWA during the Summer Meeting and for his open engagement of our students, members, educators, and local officials.  ASCE looks forward to hosting Mr. Woodson and successive ASCE Society Presidents in our great state in the near future. 

The Alabama Section of ASCE represents more than 1,600 members of the civil engineering profession in 67 counties. The recently released 2015 Report Card for Alabama’s Infrastructure was showcased and discussed in-depth during his visit, which covered the assessment of the conditions and performance of the Alabama’s infrastructure, including roads, dams, schools, and transit systems.

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Meeting with Orange Beach officials.

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Meeting at University of South Alabama and local officials.

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Mr. Woodson presenting to the Summer Meeting attendees.

Alabama’s Richard Woodruff, a Member for 79 Years, Dies at 103

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One of ASCE’s longest tenured members has died, a professional who continued giving of his engineering abilities to projects in Alabama long after retirement.

Richard Shaul Woodruff, who joined ASCE in 1937 as a student at the University of Alabama College of Engineering, died in Birmingham at the age of 103.

He achieved ASCE Life Member status in 1978, before the oldest of today’s Younger Members were even born.

Woodruff worked for 37 years at the Alabama Power Company, where he was manager of the Hydroelectric Plant Planning Section for Southern Company Services Inc. He was an executive engineer on hydro projects, including the Alabama dams: Logan Martin, Weiss, Walter Bouldin, H. Neely Henry, Lay, Smith, Holt, Bankhead, and R.L. Harris.

“He was a great inspiration and, I believe, a perfect example of what civil engineers should all aspire too,” said Shelia Montgomery-Mills, P.E., M.ASCE, president of the Alabama Section.

His contributions didn’t stop with retirement. He worked for nearly two decades as technical director and resident engineer for the Village Creek Society to solve long-term flooding problems in the Village Creek neighborhood of northern Birmingham.

“When no one else would or could act, Mr. Woodruff looked at the flooding as an engineering problem that could be solved within the means available,” Montgomery-Mills said. “His solution was to clean the channels and keep them clean initially and, long-term, to move pipes and bridge supports.”

One of Woodruff’s legacies in the area will be a walking trail in the Village Creek Watershed, which is now under construction.

Woodruff sidebar“It’s going to be a real asset,” said Village Creek field director John Meehan, who worked with Woodruff for 20 years. “Something families can enjoy, and it was through his efforts. He did a lot. He just wanted to do something to improve the watershed.”

During the prime of his career, Woodruff was extremely active in ASCE, serving as secretary of the ASCE Power Division’s executive committee, president of the Birmingham Branch, and member of the ASCE Board of Directors, among many other roles.

E. W. Shultz, P.E., M.ASCE, remembers marveling at Woodruff continuing his consulting work even into his 90s.

“He was consulting on a feasibility study to install a generator at a small out-of-service dam and build a transmission line several miles to connect to the power grid,” Shultz said. “This was similar work to what he did in the ’40s for Alabama Power Company, but had been away from for many years.

“As was typical of him, he was very enthusiastic about the project and full of questions as to current practice.”
ASCE honored him in 1972 with the Rickey Medal, given annually to a Society member for outstanding hydroelectric engineering achievement.

“He never once stopped being an engineer,” Montgomery-Mills said. “Civil engineering is not a 9-to-5 Monday-through-Friday job. It’s a lifelong career and a way of life. Our commitment to the public is always on.

“Mr. Woodruff took on the mantle to serve the public when he graduated college, and he never stopped, after retirement and until he passed on.”

Woodruff was preceded in death by his wife, Gwendolyn Roberson, and is survived by two sons, Michael and Richard.