Kansas Professional Engineer
eNews
May 2008, Issue 2
In this Issue:
2008 KSPE Annual
Conference
The KSPE Conference Planning Committee has
completed work on a dynamic program for its June 25-27, 2008 Annual
Conference. This year’s conference will be held at the Marriott Hotel in
Wichita and will focus on our response to natural disasters, emergency
management of buildings, sustainable designs, alternative fuels and a
half-day session on best practices of project management.
The Young Engineer’s Roundtable will be held on
June 25th and features Bill Snyder, former Kansas State
University Head Football Coach, as the keynote speaker. (A young engineer
is classified as any engineer 35 and under.) Other presenters include Karen
Letkowski who will talk on “Improving Your Career Through Personal
Strengths” and Brian Ismert who will present “Finance 101: Young Engineers’
Personal Finance.”
Sponsorship opportunities are still available
and are very important to KSPE. In addition to receiving recognition for
your firm, your sponsorship ensures the continuation of the many high
quality programs conducted by KSPE.
Sponsorship information, registration details
and a full program schedule for the Annual Conference and Young Engineers
Roundtable are available online at
http://www.kansasengineer.org/Events/Convention/Convention.htm.
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 PRESIDENT'S
MESSAGE
by Christopher Price, P.E.
Summer is upon us! I live
vicariously through my kids this time of year, helping them count down the
number of school days left before the summer break begins and helping them
plan their summer activities. The little league season is already in full
“swing” and while you still hear reference to “the lazy days of summer,” my
guess is that very few of us do anything but get busier through the summer
months. KSPE is no exception, with highlights including the upcoming Annual
Conference June 25-27 in Wichita as well as the PE Licensure Recognition
Ceremony being planned for July in Topeka. Many of our outstanding KSPE
volunteers have put tremendous effort into planning these to be premier
events and I look forward to seeing you there.
KSPE is completing a very
busy spring season. One of the highlights of our spring is always the
MATHCOUNTS competition. The MATHCOUNTS competition throughout the state
culminated with the state contest that was held in Salina back in March.
The contest was once again a successful competition, and was once again led
by the efforts of KSPE member Don Taylor. This year’s MATHCOUNTS was Don’s
25th. Don has made the choice that it will also be his last as
state MATHCOUNTS chair. The leadership that Don has exhibited and his
commitment to the program are both phenomenal. I would be curious to know
how many Kansas “mathletes” have been positively impacted but Don’s efforts
over a quarter of a century! Thank you, Don, for your leadership that we
all can see and appreciate.
Your state board has had a
busy spring with several activities, including moving forward with plans to
change our KSPE Constitution and Bylaws to allow for a new Associate Member
category. This is an initiative supported by your board to help bring new
tools into our membership activities, and we believe it will help us to
continue with the aggressive growth strategies outlined in our strategic
plan update completed this past year. We have gotten great attention from
NSPE as a result of our initiative, and the KSPE executive committee had a
very positive meeting with Brad Aldrich, NSPE President Elect, on April 23.
Brad was very interested in hearing about our strategic planning processes
and learning more about our plans to increase membership.
I would like to take this
opportunity to recognize and thank Tim Austin for his tireless efforts on
behalf of KSPE over the past two years by serving as the NSPE North Central
Region board representative. Tim has done an excellent job of representing
the interests of all of the North Central region states, and has helped the
NSPE board understand the North Central regional perspective. Tim has
earned respect and accolades from all of the North Central Region states,
and once again has represented Kansas and KSPE as a leader. Please join me
in thanking Tim for all of his leadership and guidance over the past two
years.
I would also like to thank
all of the KSPE membership for the giving me the opportunity to serve as
your President this past year. The year has gone by quickly, and I continue
to be amazed and impressed with all of the great leaders we have at all
levels throughout our organization. I look forward to seeing each of you in
Wichita June 25-27, and in the meantime, enjoy the start of your summer!
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Board considering constitution changes
by Ron Gaches, J.D., Executive Director
Following several months of discussions, the
KSPE Board of Directors is currently considering a number of proposed
changes to your State Society’s Constitution. Changes to the KSPE
Constitution require the support of no less than two-thirds of all State
Society Board members and ratification by the KSPE membership. Member
ratification requires “the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members,
provided that at least 20 percent of the members have voted.”
Board members will conduct a conference call on
Monday, June 16 to discuss and possibly approve one or more of the
Constitution changes described below.
Authorization for State-Only Associate Member
Revisions to Article III of the Constitution
allow for creation of a State-Only Associate Member category and remove the
requirement that all members of the State Society also be members of the
National Society of Professional Engineers. This idea was first discussed a
couple of years ago with a non PE supervisor of a couple of KSPE members
who expressed interest in belonging to the Society. The current KSPE
Constitution provides that state membership categories shall consist of
those categories defined by the NSPE By-Laws. Following changes to the NSPE
By-Laws a few years ago to refocus the Society on serving the needs of
Professional Engineers, non PEs no longer have a membership category.
Also, in recent years there has been significant
KSPE Board discussion about member dissatisfaction with the National
Society’s membership invoicing problems and the increasing costs of National
membership (scheduled to increase to $125 beginning July 1st).
Both KSPE members and non-members have questioned the value of the National
membership and effectiveness of its programs; many PEs and some employers
have expressed interest in State-Only membership opportunities that would
allow participation in state and chapter activities (chapter dues would
continue) without the cost of national membership.
After increasing amounts of discussion and
input, the KSPE Board endorsed the concept of State-Only Associate
Membership at their March meeting and directed staff to work with Don Taylor
and Tom Roberts to develop Constitution language that would authorize the
Board to determine the criteria for Associate Membership. The suggested
Constitution amendment does not explicitly provide for Professional
Engineers to become State-Only Associate Members without membership in the
National Society, but the Board could amend the State By-Laws to allow for
that when they draft the criteria for Associate Membership.
A revision to Article IV would remove the
requirement that all members of each chapter shall be members of the
National Society, thereby allowing State-Only Associate Members to become
members of KSPE Chapters.
Recognizing that future Associate Members may
want to become active in the leadership of the State Society, a proposed
revision to Article VII provides that the President and President Elect of
KSPE shall be members of NSPE, thereby allowing Associate Members to serve
in other positions on the Board, Executive Committee and other volunteer
roles.
Officer Nomination Process
Revisions to Article VIII are intended to bring
the KSPE Constitution into conformity with the actual practice of the
Nominating Committee as it has worked the past several years. The proposed
changes require that the Executive Committee review and approve the slate of
officers prepared by the Nominating Committee before the slate is submitted
to the membership for approval or rejection, and it tightens up the
timeframe for submitting the officer nominations for consideration.
Future Amendments to Constitution and By-Laws
Revisions to Article XIV and Article XV concern
the processes for amending the KSPE Constitution and By-Laws. Currently,
the Constitution requires that the State Board have 30 days to review the
language of a proposed Constitution amendment before it is acted on by the
Board. This prevents the Board from discussing and modifying amendment
language and approving it at the same meeting. Every time some wordsmithing
is done by the Board the 30-day review clock must begin again. It was the
intention of the current Constitution that it not be too easy to amend, but
the Board’s determination is that the current system is just too unwieldy to
meet the needs of the Society.
Two alternative amendments are being considered
by the Board to address this problem. The first would change the 30-day
review requirement to seven (7) days. It would still prevent the Board from
modifying and approving amendment language at the same meeting, but at least
the mandatory review time would be shorter. The second option would simply
strike the 30-day review period requirement. Both options keep in place the
current Constitution requirement that any proposed amendment must receive
the support of two-thirds of members, with a minimum of 20% of all members
voting.
The revisions to Article XV concerning the
process for amending the By-Laws are the same as for amending the
Constitution. The current Constitution language requires the same 30-day
advance notice of By-Laws amendment language as applies to Constitution
amendments, meaning that the Board can’t discuss, amend and approve a
By-Laws change at a single meeting but must have the final language in their
possession for at least 30 days prior to approval. There are two options
presented for amending this language: first, change the 30-day requirement
to 7 days, or, second, drop the advance review requirement completely.
Next Steps
The Board may approve all, some or none of the
proposed Constitution amendments during their mid-June conference call. Any
amendments that are approved will be advanced immediately to all KSPE
members for your consideration with a request for an immediate vote on your
part. Amendments that receive the necessary affirmative vote by June 24th
can be considered by the Board at its meeting scheduled for the morning of
June 25th, before the start of the Annual Conference. At this
time, Board members are hoping to consider By-Laws changes that will
implement the State-Only Associate Member initiative. Such consideration
will require membership approval of the Associate Member amendment and the
amendment eliminating the waiting period for consideration of By-Laws
changes.
A second change to Article XIV shortens the time
period for members to return their ballots on Constitutional Amendments to
seven days. This shortened time period would apply to future Constitution
amendments and not the amendments currently under consideration.
Kudos to KSPE Board member Don Taylor, PE,
President Elect Tom Roberts, PE, and current President Chris Price, PE for
their persistence and patience in developing these recommendations for Board
consideration.
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Executive Committee
Meets with NSPE President Elect
KSPE Executive Committee members met with NSPE
President Elect Brad Aldrich, PE, in a candid and open exchange of ideas
about NSPE and state societies during a meeting April 23rd at the
Society’s office in Topeka. The meeting was prompted by an email exchange
between KSPE Executive Director Ron Gaches and Ken Rigsbee, who was the
National President Elect until his resignation later this Spring. Following
his accession to President Elect, Aldrich and NSPE President Bernie Berson
contacted KSPE President Chris Price to follow-up on issues raised in the
email exchange and to discuss KSPE consideration of a State-Only Associate
Membership initiative.
President Price began the meeting by describing
the extensive process KSPE had pursued that led to consideration of the
State-Only Associate Membership. Price reviewed the outcomes of the
membership survey conducted in August of 2007 allowing members to help the
Society fine tune its Strategic Plan and prioritize its work, and the more
recent member survey completed this Spring asking for input about NSPE and
perceptions about National’s program and services. According to Price, “The
feeling among much of our membership for several years has been that there
is a growing disconnect between NSPE and KSPE … There has been ongoing
discussion for several years about offering a state-only membership but it
had been put on hold waiting to see where the New Directions Task Force
would take NSPE.”
Price explained that the State Society Board had
decided at its last meeting to move forward with implementation of a
state-only associate member opportunity provided the idea was approved by KSPE membership. Further, Price offered that KSPE had no plans to break off
affiliation with NSPE and all of the Board felt that a strong national
organization is vital for Professional Engineers. However, faced with steady
decline in its membership, KSPE leaders were supportive of offering
state-only membership in order to respond to interest from members and
maintain a strong state organization.
Aldrich expressed his thanks to KSPE for being
upfront about its intentions and disclosing to national its plans.
(Note – At least four state societies are already offering state-only
memberships and at least a few others are considering doing so.)
Executive Committee members offered several
recommendations to Aldrich intended to improve NSPE, including:
-
Eliminate the NSPE Annual Conference because it loses money each year
and is attended by fewer than 1% of all members
-
Eliminate programs and services that are little used by members instead
of spending large amounts of money to fix them
-
Create a much stronger public relations program to promote the value of
professional licensure and respond more proactively to national events
like the Minnesota bridge collapse
-
Better align the NSPE budget to the national Strategic Plan and replace
many of the older members on the Budget Committee with younger members
-
Move the NSPE headquarters out of D.C. area to a location where employee
costs and turnover would be lower
-
Better communicate with members the progress and successes of NSPE
With his term beginning in July following
installation of officers at the annual conference, Aldrich describes three
priorities he has for his year as President:
-
Strengthen National’s advocacy programs
-
Keep the pipeline open to new engineers
by supporting programs like MATHCOUNTS, JETS, Project Lead the Way and
Bridge Building, and
-
Improving National’s communications with
members and chapters, and better promoting the image of PEs at the local,
state and national level.
Aldrich also commented on the broad diversity of
state societies within NSPE. His home state of Vermont, for example, has no
local chapters, and many of the smaller state societies are operated
exclusively by volunteer members without any professional staff support.
Those states should receive additional services from National than larger
states might desire, meaning that NSPE shouldn’t offer a single set of
services to all states but should try be flexible in meeting the needs of
different state societies.
At the close of the meeting, Aldrich thanked
Kansas leadership for the opportunity to share his vision of what NSPE
should be and for offering their ideas for improving the national
organization. Price thanked Aldrich for taking time to visit Kansas and
learn first hand what leaders in Kansas are thinking about NSPE and plans
for their own state society. Executive Committee members meeting with Brad
Aldrich included Past President Chris Bohm, President Chris Price, President
Elect Tom Roberts, First Vice President Doug Danaher, and Secretary Glenn
Knak, and Executive Director Ron Gaches.
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Are You
Ready For A Political Year
by Ron Gaches, J.D., Executive Director
An irreverent political video made its way into
my computer inbox recently asking Democrats to “Decide Already!” Having
some fun with the presidential candidates and the prolonged nomination
process put a smile on my face for a few minutes and then I went back to
work. This is, after all, an election year of great importance to Kansas.
Forget about who becomes the next President. We have all 40 state senate
seats and 125 state representative seats up for election. In a profession
where the licensure standards and most scope of practice issues are decided
at the state level, it’s the state legislative races that are most
important.
Probably the best that can be said about the
2008 legislative session is that they didn’t make life much more difficult
for Professional Engineers. Certainly they had their chances. After easily
advancing a bill through the House that would have limited the review
authority of most state licensure agencies (including the Board of Technical
Professions) and sent most questions of fact to state administrative law
judges for determination, the Senate thought better of the effort and didn’t
advance the bill to final action. This year the fight was an inside the
Statehouse dispute and we prevailed. Next year we’ll need the active
support of our grassroots membership to beat back this proposal.
In somewhat of a surprise, the Legislature
decided to not reimburse Eldon Ray any of his legal expenses for defending
himself against a charge of practicing design work without a license. Do
you remember Mr. Ray? He is the elderly Jackson County resident brought
before the State Board of Technical Professions for volunteering his lay
services to design an addition to his church. At the end of the 2007
legislative session the Legislature approved a budget proviso that
explicitly prohibited the Board of Technical Professions from pursuing the
complaint against Ray. Then, in the fall of last year, the Claims Against
the State Committee recommended that Ray be reimbursed by the Board of
Technical Professions his out-of-pocket legal expenses. Representatives Kay
Wolf (R-Prairie Village) and Bill Feuerborn (D-Garnett) were considerate
enough to give that recommendation a fresh look during the 2008 budget
debate and decided the Board of Technical Professions had just been doing
its job after all and Mr. Ray wasn’t actually wronged by the state so no
reimbursement. Our thanks goes out to these legislators and their many
colleagues who made the right call on this issue the second time around.
Not much happened regarding infrastructure
funding. The University of Kansas is going to get a new Pharmacy School
Building worth $25 million and change. More importantly, no one attempted
to strip dollars from the final years of the Comprehensive Transportation
Plan to fund other state programs. The big news on the infrastructure front
is the new intermodal transportation center at Gardner and prospects for
Manhattan becoming the home of the new National Bio and Agro-Defense
Facility. Each project is worth hundreds of millions of dollars in new
investment in the state.
Speaking of transportation plans, Secretary of
Transportation Deb Miller has been hard at work educating legislators in an
effort to lay the foundation for funding the next transportation plan. Most
of us are hopeful that the 2009 session will see the Legislature consider
and pass a new multi-year transportation plan. It won’t be easy. Anti-tax
sentiment has increased considerably since the current CTP was created and
funded by the Legislature. Legislative enthusiasm for increasing taxes for
any purpose is at a low level and not likely to improve much during this
next election cycle.
There it is again – the election cycle. The
filing deadline for state legislative races is Noon on June 10th.
Soon we’ll know who the contenders are and can start evaluating the
candidates. Changes are certain to occur. Three of the six Johnson County
state senators have already announced their retirement, guaranteeing several
new faces, and several senate incumbents are expecting strong challenges.
Democrats picked up several seats in the last round of House elections in
2006 and are hoping to build on those gains. While Republicans still hold
comfortable majorities in both houses, the prospects for change are great.
Given the added increase of a more-interesting-than-normal presidential
campaign and at least a couple of seriously contested congressional seats,
voter turnout is expected to rebound after a number of disappointing years.
Who will be the candidates in your community? Do
you vote your professional interests, family interests, religious
interests? Some combination of the above? Who best represents your
personal beliefs and will work the hardest to earn your support? Are you
prepared to become an educated voter? An active campaign worker? A
candidate? Whatever your role, your active participation in the election is
essential to a good result.
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KSPE Holds Successful PE Exam
Luncheon
KSPE sponsored the PE Exam
Luncheon for the third year in a row on April 11th in Topeka.
Click here for additional details on the event.
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Kansas MATHCOUNTS Competition Winners Announced
The 25th annual MATHCOUNTS Kansas Competition
was held on Saturday, March 8, 2008, at the Bicentennial Center in Salina,
Kansas. Students from 25 schools statewide competed in a timed mathematics
competition that emphasizes both individual and team skills. Volunteers
from the Kansas Society of Professional Engineers administered, proctored
and scored the competition.
The top finishing teams were:
1st Place – The Independent School, Wichita
Naga Kota, Coach
Team members: Pavan Kota; Alan Liu; Andrew
Parker; and Josh Werner
2nd Place – Blue Valley Middle School, Overland
Park
Wendy Marvin and Athena Sullivan, Coaches
Team members: Spencer Ho; Rebecca Marvin; Vivek
Menon; and Allen Zhu
3rd Place – Oxford Middle School, Overland Park
Judith Lacey, Coach
Team members: Kevin Cao; Julie Chang; Jack Chen;
and Aislinn Davis
The top six finishing individuals were:
1st Place – Pavan Kota, The Independent School,
Wichita
2nd Place – Allen Zhu, Blue Valley Middle
School, Overland Park
3rd Place – Josh Werner, The Independent School,
Wichita
4th Place – Spencer Ho, Blue Valley Middle
School, Overland Park
5th Place – Andrew Parker, The Independent
School, Wichita
6th Place – Michael Zhou, Overland Trail Middle
School, Overland Park
The coach of the first place team and the top
four individuals advance to the Lockheed Martion MATHCOUNTS National
Competition on May 8 - 11, 2008, in Denver, Colorado.
The top four individuals were each awarded a $1,000
scholarship by the Kansas State University College of Engineering. 5th
and 6th place individuals were awarded a $500 scholarship by the
Kansas State University College of Engineering.
MATHCOUNTS is a national mathematics enrichment,
coaching and competition program that increases enthusiasm for and enhances
achievement in middle schools throughout the United States. Founding
Sponsors of MATHCOUNTS are: National Society of Professional Engineers;
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and CNA Foundation. National
Sponsors are: Lockheed Martin; Raytheon Company; Northrop Grumman
Foundation; Texas Instruments Incorporated; National Society of Professional
Engineers; 3M Foundation; General Motors foundation; CNA Foundation;
ConocoPhillips; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics; and the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
MATHCOUNTS in Kansas is sponsored by the
Engineers’ Foundation of Kansas. For additional information contact: Don
Taylor, PE at 785-575-6430.
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Thank you MATHCOUNTS volunteerS
At the
MATHCOUNTS Kansas Competition in Salina, a number of hard working volunteers
made sure that scoring kept up with the competition schedule. Without
willing volunteers who are willing to give up part of a Saturday, this just
can’t happen. Rod Anderson, Sid Arpin, Brian Armstrong, Steve Cottrell,
Doug Danaher, Jay Freund, Glenn Knak, Ken Lee, Charlie May, Hal Munger, Mike
Olson, John Ourada, Chris Price, John Reh, Tom Roberts, Tom Sydow, and Mark
Williams all kept things running like clockwork. Chris and Jay presented
trophies to the winning competitors and Tom Roberts presented K State
Scholarships to the top six individuals. On behalf of the Engineers’
Foundation of Kansas, Thank You!
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Welcome New Members
KSPE would like to welcome
the following new members who have joined in 2008.
Kevin
Boehringer - Eastern
David Erickson
- Wichita
Dou Hovey -
Eastern
Robert Julich -
Eastern
Naved Khan -
Wichita
Scott Lang -
Eastern
John Lyle - Tri
Valley
Scott Moeder -
Eastern
Rocky Owens -
Eastern
Scott Randle -
Topeka
Matthew Rombold
- Wichita
Timothy Ross -
Eastern
Jerry Sipes -
None
Cody Stefek -
Smoky Valley
Brandy
Sutherland - Topeka
Geoffrey Vohs -
Eastern
Marc Whitmore -
Eastern
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