Dr. Welker Takes on Three Leadership Roles

Andrea Welker, PhD, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has received national and regional recognition for her commitment to educating future engineers.

She has been elected as the Secretary and Treasurer of the Civil Engineering Division of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). ASEE is the primary non-profit organization for engineering educators from all of the engineering and engineering technology fields. She is one of eight officers who direct the division. “Participating at this level is an opportunity to share with colleagues who are exploring and evaluating new thinking around improving how we prepare future engineers,” said Dr. Welker. “The issues we discuss at the national level reflect the kinds of questions we ask all the time at Villanova.”

She has also accepted two leadership roles with the Geo-Institute, one at the national level and one at the local level. The Geo-Institute is a specialty membership organization for geo-professionals. It is one of the eight specialty institutes within the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). At the national level, Dr. Welker is the Chair of Continuing Education Committee, which reports directly to the Board of Governors. This committee is charged with ensuring the quality of continuing education products that bear the Geo-Institute logo as well as developing new mechanisms for engineers to continuing learning after their formal education is complete. At the local level, she has accepted the position of Academic Liaison for the Delaware Valley Geo-Institute (DVGI). Dr. Welker previously held this position several years ago and has agreed to serve in this role again. In this role, Dr. Welker will help to bridge the gap between practitioners and academics and work to ensure that students are aware of DVGI activities.