EWRI
ASCE
Volume 5, Number 4 • Winter 2003/2004

First Woman President Installed to Lead Civil Engineering Society

Patricia Galloway is ASCE's first woman president in organization's 151-year-old history.
Patricia D. Galloway,
P.E., F.ASCE, PMP

In 151 years, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has gone from being an "all-boys" club, when in 1916 it was sued by the granddaughter of women's rights advocate Elizabeth Cady Stanton seeking to join the gender-exclusive organization, to electing its first woman president. Patricia D. Galloway, P.E., F.ASCE, PMP, chief executive officer and president of the Nielsen-Wurster Group, Inc., an international management consulting firm based in Princeton, NJ, was installed on Nov. 15, 2003, as ASCE president during ASCE's annual business meeting in Nashville, Tenn. It is the first time in ASCE's 151-year-history that a woman engineer has been selected to serve as president of the Society.

"Women have long been breaking barriers and making astounding contributions to the engineering profession that it seems implausible that only in the 151st anniversary year of ASCE's founding a woman has been selected to serve as president for the very first time," said Galloway. "I don't view my election as a milestone, but instead a validation on how far we have come in 151 years in accepting people for their abilities and skills, strengthening our profession."

An internationally recognized leader in civil engineering and construction, Galloway has chaired various ASCE committees including membership, international activities and women in civil engineering, and has served as member of the communications, strategic planning and professional construction and management committees. In addition, Galloway has served on several private and nonprofit boards, including the Purdue University Engineering Alumni Board, the International Activities Commission of the American Association of Engineering Societies as chair, and the Society of Women Engineers serving as president of the New York and Wisconsin sections.

Throughout her career, Galloway has been recognized with numerous professional honors including the Purdue University Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award and the National Professional Women in Construction Professional Leadership Award. In 1986, Engineering News Record named Galloway a "Top Woman in Construction." Galloway holds a bachelor's of science from Purdue University and a master's in business administration from New York Institute of Technology.

When ASCE was founded in 1852, its membership was restricted to men, a policy which eventually led to a sexual discrimination lawsuit filed in 1916 by Nora Stanton Blatch DeForest, the granddaughter of women's rights advocate Elizabeth Cady Stanton. A Cornell University engineering graduate, DeForest was admitted to junior membership in ASCE in 1905. In 1915, when she no longer qualified as a junior member, DeForest applied for associate membership. ASCE turned down her request for an associate membership and DeForest filed a lawsuit. The case was tried in the New York Supreme Court, but the court ruled in favor of the Society, citing its status as a private organization. In 1927, Elsie Eaves became the first woman to be admitted as a full member of ASCE.