CEE hosts successful 2025 National Civil Engineering Department Heads Conference and ASCE Education Summit

On June 9 and 10, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) hosted the 2025 National Civil Engineering Department Heads Conference (NCEDHC) on the beautiful campus of Case Western Reserve University. The conference, which is co-organized by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and Civil Engineering Department Heads Coordination Council (DHCC), provided a venue for department heads and chairs to come together to deliberate on important department academic and administrative issues. Experience-sharing and collective wisdom helped departments to adopt best practices to support prosperous civil engineering education, research and practice.   

Over 120 civil engineering department heads and chairs across the nation joined the conference. For many, it was their first time visiting Cleveland and discovering the rich cultural heritage. Besides engaging in inspiring conversation, the program venues of NCEDHC allowed attendees to experience the vibrant community on and around the Case Western Reserve University campus, such as the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Botanical Garden, CWRU think[box] and more.

Deputy Provost Lee Thompson, PhD, and former Dean of the Case School of Engineering Venkataramanan “Ragu” Balakrishnan, PhD, gave the attendees a warm welcome and highlighted the major achievements of CEE programs: 

• 50% of CEE department faculty members (67% of T/TT faculty members) are ranked as top 2% global top scholar by Stanford- Elsevier
• Over 50% of CEE PhD graduates received faculty positions
• The CEE department was ranked eighth among the civil engineering programs in the nation in 2025 based on the comprehensive scholarly productivity index by Academic Analytics.
• Strong student experiences and success: 
  • First prize in international Intelligent Water System challenge competition
  • Second prize in national ASCE forensic engineering student competition
  • First place in Ohio Environmental Design competition
  • Second place in 2025 Ohio Construction Estimating Competition
  • Third place in student team steel bridge design competition for East Great Lakes region.