Submitted by Marvin Oey, CI Director
On October 20, 2006, The Construction Institute (CI) will celebrate its sixth anniversary. CI has grown stronger over these six years, and we continue to work at improving our organizational functionality. Since the merger of the ASCE Construction Division, Materials Division, and Construction Standards Council in October 2000, the communication lines between the CI Board of Directors (BOD), Directorates, and Technical Committees have been unclear. To help our members understand, a schematic of the organization is included.
As a first step towards improving CI’s organizational functionality, the CI BOD met with the CI technical committee chairs in Chicago on June 15. This Directorate Symposium was the first meeting that included both the CI BOD and the committee chairs in conversation with each other. Each committee chair gave a 15 minute presentation on recent committee activities. Committee chairs and board members then had the opportunity to ask questions about each committee’s activities and future directions.
This committee networking session proved to be valuable in many ways. Not only did technical committee chairs have an opportunity to meet the CI BOD for the first time, but they also had the opportunity to meet with other technical committee chairs as well. Common goals were realized and committee collaboration on projects became a possibility. At the same time, the CI BOD realized that the institute’s core lies within these technical committees.
With a better understanding of the technical committees, the CI BOD will continue to work at improving CI’s organizational structure by looking at the responsibilities and authority of the Directorates.
Construction Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers