Tradition revived: Honoring outstanding contributors to construction and civil engineering
Above: The School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment hosted its first awards ceremony and dinner, inducting two members into the Hall of Fame and five alumni into the Academy of Distinguished Alumni. Photographer: Jessica Hochreiter/ASU.
On February 3, 2017, the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment hosted the School’s first awards ceremony and dinner.
In his opening remarks, G. Edward Gibson, the school’s director, called the event “a new tradition for civil engineering and a restart of a Del E. Webb School of Construction tradition.”
The School of Construction has been recognizing distinguished alumni since 1995, and is now housed in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment — starting a new joint tradition.
The ceremony named five alumni exemplars for induction into the Academy of Distinguished Alumni and inducted two outstanding contributors to the school into the Hall of Fame.
Hall of Fame
Established in 1990, the Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have contributed to the advancement of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment — one of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University — and its educational and research mission, and its preparation of the industry’s workforce.
School Director G. Edward Gibson (center) pictured with Hall of Fame inductees Eric Hedlund (left) and Paul Johnson (right). Photographer: Jessica Hochreiter/ASU
Paul Johnson and Eric Hedlund are this year’s inductees.
Johnson served as dean of the Fulton Schools from 2011 to 2015 before accepting his current position as President of the Colorado School of Mines. He is an emeritus faculty member in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment and also served the Fulton Schools as associate dean for research and executive dean in addition to his role as a professor
“His career reflects his strong passion for innovation, education and student success,” says Gibson.
Johnson has received awards recognizing his contributions to education and research, including the Fair Distinguished Engineering Educator Award from the Water Environment Federation, the Brown and Caldwell Lifetime Achievement Award in Remediation, and the National Ground Water Association’s Keith E. Anderson Award
Hedlund is the senior vice president and district manager for Sundt Construction’s Texas offices and oversees the company’s Texas-area building projects.
He served as past president and is currently a life director of the Arizona Builder’s Alliance. He also served as the past chairman of the Executive Advisory Board for the Del E. Webb School of Construction.
As chairman of the Public Private Industry Advisory Council for Associated General Contractors of America, Gibson says Hedlund had an “important tie” to the School of Construction.
“He helped me lead the Del E. Webb School of Construction through a very tough economic time, and it is no small part because of Eric’s tireless efforts that the school has moved ahead and that we are in this building,” says Gibson, referring to Hedlund’s role in assisting in the development of the College Avenue Commons, where the school is headquartered.
Academy of Distinguished Alumni
The Academy of Distinguished Alumni recognizes alumni that embody the spirit of Arizona State University as a New American University, and who show excellence in their professional work as well as compassion and support for their communities.
These individual awards are granted to outstanding alumni of the Del E. Webb School of Construction and the Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering program.
This year’s awardees include:
- Stephen Basila (’77 B.S., Construction) who is the AGC Arizona Chapter chairman and lifetime director. He is also the owner and manager of Infrastructure Mavens LLC
- Kent Dibble (’75 B.S., Civil Engineering) who is president of Dibble Engineering, an engineering firm that has served clients for 54 years.
- Michael Fann (’80 B.S., Construction) who is president of Fann Contracting.
- Enamul Hoque (’85 M.S., Civil Engineering) who started Hoque & Associates, Inc.
- Hisham Mahmoud (’89 M.S., Civil Engineering and ’91 Ph.D., Civil Engineering) who is the president and CEO of Golder Associates.
Many of these alumni have remained affiliated with ASU since their graduation.
Basila served as a Faculty Associate for seven years in the Del E. Webb School of Construction. Dibble is a founding member of the Friends of Civil Engineering at ASU and is on the Steering Committee. Hoque has served as an adjunct faculty member and earned the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Fulton Schools.
They join 19 other alumni who have been inducted into the academy since it began in 1995.
