A major effort has been developed at the University of Florida to provide exposure to civil engineering practice as a supplement to the academic experience. This effort has included a sponsored lecture series in civil engineering design and in geotechnical engineering that has drawn speakers from the practice. A named professorship has been established as the Crom Professorship of Structural Engineering to further these efforts. Other methods of “bringing practice to the classroom,” have included an airport planning and design course taught by a team of practitioners from several areas of practice. The problems and advantages gained from this effort are discussed. The lessons learned from the University of Florida experience is that no one scheme for “bringing practice to the classroom” is fool‐proof nor necessarily suitable for any given program with its particular limitations.

The task of the civil engineer is to design physical changes which necessarily impact the surrounding environment. Because of this, ASCE ought to have an unequivocal ethical position on the subject which is consistent with contemporary public values and laws. Thus the Environmental Impact Analysis Research Council of ASCE has formulated a proposed Eighth Fundamental Canon for consideration as an addition to the code of ethics. The proposed canon states: “8. Engineers shall perform services in such manner as to husband the world's resources and the natural and cultured environment for the benefit of present and future generations.” The canon is amplified by nine guidelines. Arguments for and against the proposed canon are outlined. With the environmental movement in perspective the current years are an ideal time to consider the proposed canon.

Contractor Quality Control (CQC), which is federally mandated, assures a mutual effort on the part of the contractor and the government to achieve an acceptable facility in accordance with the contract documents. The CQC program is administered by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command. If properly administered, CQC provisions assure completed work in compliance with government standards. CQC can and does work under the direction of a qualified CQC manager who receives proper instructions and support from the construction contractor's executive‐in‐charge.

A study was made to explore marketing efforts of local and regional civil engineering firms with less than 300 employees. The study comprised both library research and a mail survey of 103 principles of the firms. The firms were divided into two classes with respect to the level of their marketing efforts. Firms in one class are typically not concerned with growth and show minimal marketing effort. Firms in the other class are growth‐oriented, and view marketing as a major concern. Even among the more aggressive firms, however, marketing efforts are not as effective as they could be. The study identified, three key obstacles to more effective marketing hy CE firms. They are: (1) Lack of a well‐developed marketing management function integrated within the overall management of the firm; (2) lack of refinement in the marketing approach; and (3) inadequate knowledge of marketing concepts and how to integrate them into the firms overall management.