President's Message
There are about 1000 members of the ASCE Nashville Branch out there that I want to thank. I am honored to be a member and now an elected leader of such a quality organization.
Check our Calendar page or electronic newsletter, A Level Line, for times and locations of meetings, events and more information throughout the year. As I think of all that our Branch does each year, it’s difficult to be brief, but here’s a quick summary:
Mark your calendars now for our regular monthly luncheon meetings in January, March, May, July, August and September. These meetings are held on third Thursdays at 11.30 a.m. at the Tennessee Engineering Center, 800 Fort Negley Boulevard.
During months without regular lunch meetings, there’s still plenty of action. The All Engineers Banquet serves as our February meeting. In April, we have an evening meeting to honor Life Members and Scholarship Winners. The Scholarship Golf Tournament Fundraiser takes the place of our regular lunch meeting in June. In October, we join ASCE colleagues from around the state to recognize outstanding members and projects and for an excellent opportunity to satisfy professional development requirements at the Tennessee Section Seminar. November brings another special evening meeting hosted by one of our active Student Chapters from Tennessee State, Tennessee Technological or Vanderbilt University. Branch Board Meetings are generally held on the Wednesday following the third Thursday at 7.00 a.m. at the TEC and are open to members. After all of this, we take December off.
Scholarship funding mainly comes from golf, bowling, and fishing tournaments held during the year. I’m proud to tell you that, since 1994, our Branch has awarded 60 scholarships totaling over $84,000 to Civil Engineering students from Vanderbilt, Tennessee State and Tennessee Technological Universities. Also, we are making good progress toward Scholarship Endowment. Our Sports Committee organizes these events.
Contact Jeff Hooper if you have ideas or would like to get involved with organizing these important fundraising events.
Our Scholarship Committee reviews applications and recommends scholarship winners each year. Contact Scholarship Chair Bill Forte for more information.
An active and friendly Younger Members Group is a valuable part of the Branch. Chaired by Ashley Thomas, this group organizes numerous social, technical and community service activities for the under 35 crowd (despite my age, I’ve been welcomed). Visit the Younger Member’s page for additional information.
Our Education Outreach Committee is chaired by Leeann Williams and has exciting plans for continued involvement with local schools, Public Television and the Adventure Science Center. Please contact Leeann to get involved with these activities which are valuable investments in our profession and community.
A host of highly motivated professionals from private firms and government agencies lead our Nashville Branch and are devoted to providing a variety of professional, technical and social opportunities to our members and our community. That said, be involved as much as you can, whether attending regular luncheon meetings, speaking with local students, or participating in or assisting with one of many scholarship fund raising activities. Our membership and Sustaining Member Firms are committed to improvement of engineers, our practice and our community. Be an active part of this team. It really is all good.
This year, special projects include partnering with fellow founding societies to retire the construction debt for our Tennessee Engineering Center and beginning a new fund to endow future exhibits at the Adventure Science Center.
Jon Perry, PE, M ASCE
Gresham, Smith and Partners
511 Union Street, Suite 1400, 12th Floor
Nashville, Tennessee, 37219