Order of the Engineer

“I am an Engineer.”

The Order is the roster of engineers in the United States who have participated in an Engineers’ Ring Ceremony and who have accepted in public the “Obligation of an Engineer.” The Ring Ceremony is the public induction of candidates into the Order of the Engineer, during which the engineer candidates formally accept the Obligation of an Engineer and receive a stainless steel ring to be worn on the fifth finger of the working hand as a symbol.

The purpose is to initiate formal public recognition by engineers in the United States of two basic principles:

1. The primary purpose of engineering is service to the public
2. All members of the engineering profession share a common bond

About the Order of the Engineer

During the 1960s, Ohio engineers attempted to extend the Canadian Ring Ceremony into American engineering schools. The first Engineers’ Ring Ceremony in the United States was conducted in 1970 by students at Cleveland State University’s Fenn College of Engineering. In 1972, the Order of the Engineer was incorporated in Ohio, and tacit approval was obtained from the Canadian Wardens. The Order’s national office remained in Ohio until 1987 when it was relocated to the United Engineering Center in New York City.

The Order is governed at the national level by a National Board of Governors, composed of as many as 21 engineers who serve three-year terms. The officers are chairman, vice-chairman and secretary-treasurer. The National Board of Governors establishes policy, directs the national office and charters local “links” governed by local boards of governors. Links are local sections based primarily at colleges of engineering but may also be based at sections of a state society of professional engineers. Each Link has its own officers and board of governors and is granted the right by the National Board of Governors to hold Engineer’s Ring Ceremonies.

There is no formal connection between the Order of the Engineer and other organizations; it is independent. However, the Order recognizes ABET’s accreditation of engineering programs as a primary measurement of educational credentials for an engineer in the United States. The National Board of Governors has contracted with ABET to house and staff the national office of the Order of the Engineer since August 1987. In addition, Links of the Order have been charted to various local components of Tau Beta Pi, the National Society of Black Engineers and other engineering societies.

The impact of the formal program is likely to be greatest if inductees are engineering students about to enter the profession. However, until there is a preponderance of practicing engineers in the U.S. who have participated, as there is now in Canada, there will be a place for Ring Ceremonies at engineering functions. The reminder of the common purpose of all engineers is a message that cannot be too often repeated.

Following induction, there are no dues or meetings of the Order of the Engineer. Inductees are encouraged to wear the ring and to display their signed Obligation certificate as visible reminders of the publicly accepted Obligation as a contract with themselves.