M
ason Presidential Chief of Staff Ken Walsh is about building bridges. The story of the Brooklyn Bridge inspired him as a freshman engineering student, work on the soil for a bridge over the Salt River near Tempe, Arizona, kept him in graduate school, and his work in higher education has built bridges for students and communities around the world. “When I started my engineering studies at Arizona State University, I joined the student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE),” says Walsh. “All new members received a copy of David McCullough’s book, The Great Bridge.” Being a history buff, he read the book in a weekend and it changed the way he thought about engineering. “After reading the book, I realized that changes to the built environment can change the world. The people who built that bridge made history,” he says. “The idea that I could be a part of history through engineering practice inspired me.”
Chief of Staff and Civil Engineer Ken Walsh Brings Diverse Background to His Job After graduating with his degree in civil engineering, Walsh got a job with a local company and worked on projects around Phoenix. “I loved driving around town and seeing the finished buildings that we had constructed,” he says. Walsh started taking night classes and says that he planned to take courses to improve his engineering practice. But another bridge, this one closer to home in Tempe, across the Salt River, led him to pursue his PhD. “During graduate school, I ended up working on a soil investigation project related to a freeway bridge over the Salt River. The soils exhibited unusual behaviors and while I was studying them my advisor asked me to apply for a National Science Foundation fellowship which would pay for the PhD,” says Walsh. While in graduate school, Walsh continued working, but the small family-owned business that he had been working for changed ownership and the culture changed. This led him to look for a change of his own.
Walsh saw an ad for a job at Arizona State University teaching construction engineering and decided to take a chance. “At the time I didn’t see it as a long-term thing, but I stuck with it until I got tenure,” he says.
“
Teaching allowed me to be part of even more projects, and my student’s advancement and accomplishments gave me great pleasure.
”
When San Diego State University started its program in construction engineering in 2002, Walsh bridged the gap between teaching and administration. Serving as the director of the program allowed him to have an impact on more students and faculty.
continued on next page
31
