Learning from history -- ASME's Centennial Period

Few of us would get behind the wheel of a car and speed to our destination without ever glancing in the rearview mirror. The glance back gives clues to the landscape ahead and what's traveling with us on the road.

Similarly, the last 30 years of ASME's history are largely unwritten and are now the focus of defining who we are now and our current direction. As ASME approaches its 125th anniversary in 2005, accounts are being tallied, stories gathered and voices recorded.

During this year's Congress in New Orleans, a Centennial Retrospection Roundtable will be held from 9 to 11:30 a.m., on Sunday, Nov. 17, to capture recollections on the challenges and changes of the restructuring of ASME, leading up to, during, and following the 1980 celebrations.

Many interesting parallels between the current times and the period of the late '70s to early '80s can be observed: global unrest, an uncertain economy, institutional disillusionment and more. As the centennial approached, 30 years ago, ASME began to wonder if it was as well-designed as it needed to be to face the challenges ahead. The Society's leadership set in motion the most intensely probing exercise in self-examination since ASME's origins in 1880.

"Three decades later, voices are again being heard suggesting that it just may be time to take another look within," said Paul Torpey, an ASME past president. "As our thoughts turn to that possibility, we can look back to ASME's centennial period and search for helpful historical insights."

Shaping this history is the 1970 Goals Conference at Arden House, the Saw Mill Creek Conference, the Arthur D. Little Report, and the September 1979 special meeting of the Council, where the present governance by the board and five Councils was approved.

"A look at circa 1980 shows that the members were vocal and innovative in how they responded," said Torpey, who is coordinating this series of modern history roundtable sessions, which will identify and explore key issues and trends shaping and being shaped by ASME.

"The centennial was a pivotal time in how ASME adapted to changes in the practice of engineering, in education, and in the technologies we use as tools," Torpey explained.

Last year, two Congress panels delved into internationalism and the streamlining of Codes and Standards. At this year's Congress, the Centennial Retrospection Roundtable will have three parts: Under the topic "Winds of Change," past president Don Zwiep will lead a discussion with former governor Warren Fackler and president-nominee Reginald Vachon, on the pre-Centennial years.

The 1980 celebration will be discussed by past presidents Richard Rosenberg and Robert Gaither. "Getting Back to Work — Implementing Major Change" is the third session, led by Gaither and Vachon and will include Skip Fletcher, a past president.

The Modern History Project sessions are taped and transcribed for use during ASME's anniversary and as archival resources. Attendance at this year's roundtable is reserved.
For more information, contact Diane Kaylor, ASME Public Information, (212) 591-8159, e-mail: kaylord@asme.org.

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