Courtesy Larry Hanson When a group of 29 civil engineering practitioners and professors met in Phoenix in February 1925 to pursue applying to join ASCE as the Arizona Section, the state itself was only 13 years old with a population of 393,000.
At the time, civil engineers had just begun to transform the state from its dusty, Old West past. They would have had no idea that their transformative achievements in water, energy, and transportation infrastructure over the next century would enable a meteoric rise to the approximately 7.6 million who call Arizona home today.
It’s evident that civil engineers created modern Arizona. Thus, a celebration of the ASCE Arizona Section, its members, and their achievements over 100 years would mirror the rise of the state itself. The section understood the responsibility and formed a centennial planning committee two years in advance, in early 2023.
Briefings from ASCE Geographic Services also gave planners a jump up, covering how other sections had marked their anniversaries, so “we got the benefit of what others had been doing. And so when we started it was kind of an open slate,” said 2024 section President Larry Hanson, chair of the 25-member committee.
“We let everybody give, get ideas out, and hear different things that we might do or what we’d want to do, and then hone in a bit from there,” said 2025 President Stephanie Templeton, committee vice-chair.
Courtesy Larry Hanson
What became feasible for commemorating the anniversary took several forms, among them creating a 90-foot-wide detailed timeline of civil engineering in Arizona, displayed at celebrations; producing a keepsake medallion; and commissioning an official logo, designed by member Melissa Darr, that was then cast as a pin.
Another highlight was producing an engaging video tribute to the section and the state, featuring views of Arizona’s grandeur, both natural and man-made, which was also shown at events. The half-hour segment covers the section’s origins and explores significant engineers and major projects that reinforce the impression that civil engineers have enabled modern life in a challenging state, including interviews with some of the project engineers themselves.
The video also hopes to serve as an incentive. “We wanted to talk a little bit about ASCE, and then we wanted to talk a little bit about the need for young folks, as they're thinking about a career, to think about civil engineering,” Hanson said.
For a section covering a state the size of nearly 74 Rhode Islands, a proper celebration could not be confined to a single event. Coordinating with the section’s four branches, three younger member groups, and three student chapters at Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona, six regional celebrations are being held across 2025. A central gala celebration took place in April in Tempe at Arizona State University.
Interest in the anniversary and the celebrations has attracted several regional engineering firms as sponsors, helping to offset costs. Templeton and Hanson expressed gratitude to the ASCE Foundation for its support.
Topping off the celebration, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbes issued a proclamation, reading in part: “Whereas the current 1,900-plus members of the Arizona Section have generously contributed through their activities in government, engineering, education, and private practice in the development of our State … [I] do hereby recognize April 20-27, 2025, as a week to honor the 100th anniversary of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Arizona Section.”
