Mead & Hunt – Professor Mead

During the 1930s, Daniel Mead continued writing books and articles on hydrology and engineering ethics.  In 1932, the American Society of Civil Engineers awarded him an honorary membership, an honor reserved for its most distinguished members.  On Mead’s selection, society member R.E. Hutchins of the Rose Polytechnic Institute said, “I am also of the opinion that they have honored the Society in so doing.” In 1936, the ASCE elected Mead president.

Mead had also formally retired from his professorship at the University of Wisconsin in 1932.  The UW honored him with the Degree of Laws, and Mead continued to lecture until 1937.  Adolph J. Ackerman, a former student, commented to Mead: “I assure you that one of the outstanding features of my scholastic career was the great privilege and opportunity to sit at your feet and learn from a great teacher and a great engineer” – high praise for a man who, back in 1904, had been reluctant to take the professorship.

Mead’s extensive work on engineering ethics also earned him awards and honors.  His first work to focus primarily on ethics in engineering was “The Engineer and His Code,” published in 1936 in Civil Engineering.  A year later the magazine also published his article, “Experience Counsels Youth.” He also received the Washington Award in 1939, joining men such as Herbert Hoover and Orville Wright in receiving that honor.  The same year, ASCE set up the Daniel W. Mead Prize in honor of his work on engineering ethics.