November 30, 1999
Contact: Prisella J. Adams, Public Relations Director, KU School of Engineering, (785) 864-2934.
LAWRENCE -- In a ceremony with Canadian origins, University of Kansas engineering students pledged to uphold the highest ethical standards in their chosen profession during a ceremony at the Kansas Union Tuesday, Nov. 30.
The ceremony honored 30 KU engineering students including juniors, graduating seniors and several international students. The students received steel rings to symbolize their commitment, in the words of the oath, "to practice integrity and fair dealing, tolerance and respect, and to uphold devotion to the standards and the dignity of my profession."
"Your word is your greatest obligation as a professional engineer," Tom Mulinazzi, associate dean of the KU School of Engineering, told those taking the pledge. "You'll face many more problems in your career that are based on ethics rather than on technical problems."
The ring ceremony is a tradition started in 1926 by Canadian engineering students in response to the Quebec Bridge disaster. The bridge collapsed during construction due to an engineering failure and killed many workers. The U.S. Order of the Engineer, a separate organization, was started in 1970, and KU has been a link for five years. Today, approximately 45,000 engineers are members of the U.S. order.
The Quebec Bridge disaster was the greatest disaster of the time in North America resulting from an engineering failure. The ring ceremony was started by Canadian engineering students, and the first rings were made out of steel from the collapsed bridge. In Canadian engineering schools today, graduating students receive rings that are faceted like a metal nut. Engineers in the United States who have joined the order wear smooth rings.
Individuals who joined the Order of the Engineer are listed by class and major, and parents' names and home addresses when known.
KANSAS
Johnson County
Lenexa
JENNIFER KAMP, mechanical engineering senior, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
James Kamp, 13712 W. 78th St.
Overland Park
KIRAN AHMED, aerospace engineering senior, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mushtaq
Ahmed, 9570 W. 86th St., Apt. C.
Shawnee
HOLLY COULTER, electrical engineering senior, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John
Coulter, 11404 W. 74th St.
Stilwell
GREG KING, mechanical engineering senior, son of Mr. and Mrs. Philip King,
16636 Lamar Ave.
Saline County
Salina
DAVID CONNER, civil engineering junior, son of Brian Conner, 619 Fairdale Road.
Sedgwick County
Wichita
JENELLE MARSH, civil engineering senior, daughter of M. Susan Hamm, 7050 E.
35th Circle.
COLORADO
Yuma
MICHAEL INGALLS, fifth-year architectural engineering senior.
KENTUCKY
Lexington
LISA BESSINGER, aerospace engineering senior, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Arthur Bessinger, 5465 Bethel Rd.
MISSOURI
Manchester
ERIKA WINTERS, fifth-year architectural engineering senior, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Gary Winters, 585 Arblay Place.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Sioux Falls
ANDREW OSVOG, aerospace engineering senior, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard
Osvog, 4301 Teakwood.
TENNESSEE
Memphis
TASHA KING, fifth-year architectural engineering senior, daughter of Dewitt
King, 5130 Locust Bend.
INTERNATIONAL
ROCIO RODRIGUEZ, civil engineering graduate student from San Jose, Costa Rica.
JAVIER BALMA, civil engineering graduate student from San Jose, Costa Rica.