The History and Philosophy of NSPE/ASPE
In the early development of the engineering profession, there were only two types of engineers -- those engaged in military work and those in civilian construction. That distinction brought the term “civil engineer” into being, and it was in 1852 that those engaged in civilian engineering banded together to form the American Society of Civil Engineers. Four years earlier, the Boston Society of Civil Engineers had been formed – but ASCE was the first national engineering society.
The further development of the technical societies continued with the founding of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers in 1871. In 1880, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers put in its appearance. The trend toward development of specialized technical societies became even more firmly established with the organization in 1884 of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.
More and more specialization developed in the engineering profession, until it became apparent that the common problems of all engineers in the development of their professional responsibilities required the attention of all engineers. There was, and still is, however, sound reasoning for the development of technical societies paralleling the branches of the profession.
In 1934 a group of engineers met to form the National Society of Professional Engineers. The area of activities of the organization was based on the philosophy that every engineer has two distinct interests. First and foremost, he is a member of the engineering profession and as such has a common interest with every other member of the profession in professional, social, economic and ethical fields; and second, he has been trained and his work involves, usually, one particular branch of the profession, establishing a community of interest and a need for organization in that particular branch.
That philosophy clearly delineated two basic tenets—one, that there is a very definite need for technical branch organizations and that they should be sponsored and supported by the engineers of that specialized branch; and two, that there should be an organization devoted exclusively to the professional interests of all engineers, and all engineers should likewise support and promote its activities.
Since this was an entirely new philosophy in the organization of the engineering profession, there were a number of questions, which had to be answered in order to implement such an organization. Hence, it was determined that there were certain criteria, which the new organization should meet:
- It must be composed of engineers only.
- It must be composed of individual engineers having a voice in its affairs and to whom its officers and administration would be responsible in the best democratic sense.
- Since every engineer is a citizen, the organization should be effective at the three levels of interest of the citizen engineer; ie, community, state and nation.
It was recognized that in time laws covering the practice of engineering would be enacted in all states of the union; that as these laws came into being, their value would be recognized both by the public and by the profession; and that in time all qualified engineers would have met the requirements established by the state registration boards.
To be effective at the three levels of citizenship-engineer interest, a careful analysis of an organizational pattern was required. That analysis pointed to development of an organizational structure of the professional society having three levels of activity and administration – local chapter, state society, and national society. The new member automatically became a member of all three as s/he joined the professional society.
Recognizing the desirability of an effective organization at the community level, the local chapter was formed with officers, bylaws, meetings, and an opportunity to thoroughly discuss any problem affecting the professional features. Representatives of these local chapters to establish state policy, and through the state organization work effectively on such matters as require state-level activity.
So evolved a completely democratic organization, effective at the three levels in which the professional should an must be active. The engineer maintains his democratic prerogatives in controlling the organization of the Society and establishing the policies under which the Society operates in his behalf.
Since the founding of NSPE in 1934, this philosophy of the professional society devoted exclusively to the social, ethical, economic and professional matters of engineering, and working together with the various technical societies in the advancement of the specialized branches of the profession, has appealed to more and more engineers.
ASPE was found in 1951. Since that first Chapter meeting in Birmingham, there has been much progress to establish new charters at other geographic locations across our state
Chapter Charters
- Birmingham June 1951
- Montgomery June 1952
- Auburn January 1954
- Huntsville June 1959
- Decatur June 1962
- Muscle Shoals October 1963
- Northeast January 1964
- Mobile January 1964
- Tuscaloosa January 1964
- Southeast March 1964
BYLAWS for the ALABAMA SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS
Document Archives (pdf)