The words projected large on the screen – highlighted in ASCE blue type: “You can’t spell infrAStruCturE without A-S-C-E.”
And just like that, the ASCE Board of Direction had, if not an official slogan, a clever bit of wordplay to serve as a friendly reminder of where to position the Society as essential infrastructure decision-makers.
“I really liked that quote,” said ASCE President Feniosky Peña-Mora. “We want to ensure that we, as civil engineers, are leading the infrastructure space.”
The board met at ASCE headquarters in Reston, July 10-11, for a full slate of future-focused conversations and decisions that will continue to reshape both the Society and profession. Some highlights:
Workforce recommendations
The Task Committee on Transforming Our Workforce made its final report after a year of work to develop a new undergraduate civil engineering program that not only enhances the educational experience but also attracts a diverse range of people into the civil engineering workforce.
The board voted to approve each of the recommendations from the task committee, which include a variety of potential, areas where ASCE can drive change – from expanding curricula so that it features a wider range of planning and management skills to better marketing the profession to those who aren’t in traditional four-year colleges.
“We are hearing from industry, from leaders of companies, from leaders in government – they need engineers ready to work, ready to contribute,” Peña-Mora said. “So it is critical that ASCE makes this investment of outreach and communication to help create the workforce and the leadership base for our profession’s future.”
Former Society president Maria Lehman chaired the task committee, and it was her presentation that provided the aforementioned inspirational “infrastructure” spelling lesson. The task committee focused its work on four key areas, establishing working groups for each:
- Improve accreditation
- Influence changes to licensure that allow multiple entry points
- Grow K-12 outreach efforts
- Improve student pathways to meet new educational and employment models
Workforce has been a major point of emphasis at ASCE the past few years, with the Society participating as a leading partner in the Engineering Workforce Consortium, ASCE hosting its first JEDI Workforce Summit last December, and the recent ASCE Civil Engineering Education Summit to name a few. Peña-Mora recently wrote an article titled “Rebuilding the Civil Engineering Workforce,” for Civil Engineering magazine. The key now will be blending those efforts with the recently approved task committee recommendations into a cohesive strategy.
“We must continue to look toward the future,” Peña-Mora said.
Cities of the Future
One of ASCE’s greatest assets when it comes to K-12 outreach is the giant-screen film Cities of the Future, which continues to expand into more museums and theaters in 2025.
The board received an update on the film, including that:
- The film has reached an estimated 425,000 viewers.
- Theaters around the world are now booking a new 20-minute edit of the film.
- Cities of the Future now features as part of Delta Airlines’ in-flight entertainment package
- ASCE partnered with the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Discovery & Science to pilot a community workshop model that can be used to spread the film’s message to student and community groups in the coming months.
More strategic
In what really has been an underlying theme of much of the board’s recent work, several items on the agenda focused on the push to be even more strategic.
The Task Committee on Governance Reframing presented a set of preliminary recommendations with an eye toward making the Society’s governance structure more resilient, responsive, and agile.
The board split into breakout groups to discuss and debate different governance models that potentially could emphasize strategy over geographic representation.
The task committee will continue working and report back at a future board meeting.
Meanwhile, the Collaborative Innovation Team, created in January, gave a progress report on its work identifying and prioritizing strategic topic areas for the board to focus on.
“The analogy that I like to use is them acting as a scout,” Peña-Mora said. “Looking at the future so that we’re not necessarily battling out today’s everyday actions or issues but that we’re looking forward strategically.”
CIT’s update focused on reclaiming the role of innovation in civil engineering: emphasizing the civil engineer as a thinker and planner and not only a builder. It was a theme very consistent with the board conversation about reshaping the workforce.
With guidance from the board, CIT will hone its list of priority areas for next steps.
New policy statement
The board approved a new policy statement – PS 577: Infrastructure Supply Chain – which urges decision-makers to carefully consider the impacts that laws and regulations have on the acquisition of infrastructure materials and products.
Governing documents
It was a busy meeting for the Governing Documents Committee. The board voted on second reading to finalize the name change of the Committee on Technical Advancement; it will now be known as the Center for Technical Advancement.
The board also finalized the member grade simplification into the Society bylaws. The change – approved by nearly 80% of voting members during the 2025 ASCE election in May – consolidates affiliate, associate, and member grades into one member grade.
On first reading, the board approved changes to the bylaws that would require a president-elect nominee to have a Ph.D. or a P.E., or be an ASCE fellow. Second reading will be at the October board meeting.
Other highlights
The 2028 and Beyond Leadership Development Opportunities Task Committee updated the board on its outreach work to determine potential consolidations of ASCE leadership offerings. The group’s initial recommendations suggest the importance of viewing Society leadership training and engineering leadership development as separate skillsets while also valuing ASCE’s continuing education certificate and longer-term training programs.
The board voted to approve Jared M. Green, P.E., BC.GE, F.ASCE, as at-large director for a three-year term, 2025-2028. Green will step in for Rossana D’Antonio, whose stint as an at-large director concludes in October.
The board also received an update on the ongoing accelerated digital strategy and personalization project, designed to simplify and unify the organization while reimagining member engagement. The process has featured five board-approved member personas to help better filter information and engagement. The focus for 2026 includes implementing and adopting a new data analytics platform and a centralized event management platform.
