American Concrete Institute Announces New Officers for 2012

The American Concrete Institute (ACI) introduced its 2012-2013 president, vice president and four board members during the ACI Spring 2012 Convention in Dallas, Texas.

James K. Wight was elected to serve as president of the Institute for 2012-2013. William E. Rushing Jr. has been elected ACI vice president for a two-year term, and Anne M. Ellis is now the Institute's senior vice president, which is also a two-year term. Additionally, four members have been elected to serve on the ACI Board of Direction, each for three-year terms.

President
James K. Wight, FACI and FASCE, is the Frank E. Richart Jr. Collegiate Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. He has been a Professor in the structural engineering area of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department since September 1973, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate classes on structural analysis and design of reinforced concrete structures. Wight received his BS and MS in civil engineering from Michigan State University in 1969 and 1970, and his PhD from the University of Illinois in 1973.

Wight is known for his work in earthquake-resistant design of concrete structures. His more recent research has concentrated on the strength and inelastic behavior of connections in composite structures (reinforced concrete and steel) and the use of high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete composites for earthquake-resistant design of critical members in concrete structures. He has been involved with post-earthquake damage studies following earthquakes in Mexico, Chile, Armenia, Egypt, California, Japan, and India.

An active member of ACI since 1973, Wight was named a Fellow of the Institute in 1984 and previously served on the ACI Board of Direction. He is a past Chair of the ACI Technical Activities Committee; ACI Committee 318, Structural Concrete Building Code; and Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 352, Joints and Connections in Monolithic Concrete Structures. He is a Past President of the ACI Greater Michigan Chapter.

ACI has honored him with the Delmar L. Bloem Distinguished Service Award, the Joe W. Kelly Award, the Arthur J. Boase Award, the Alfred E. Lindau Award, the Chester Paul Siess Award for Excellence in Structural Research, and the Wason Medal for the Most Meritorious Paper in 2011. He has also received the Arthur Y. Moy Award from the ACI Greater Michigan Chapter for outstanding service in the field of concrete technology.

At the University of Michigan, Wight has received awards for his teaching and service, including the ASCE Student Chapter Teacher of the Year Award (several times), the College of Engineering's Distinguished Service and Teaching Excellence Awards, the Rackham Graduate School Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award, and the State of Michigan Award for Outstanding Teaching. He has also received distinguished alumni awards from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Departments of the University of Illinois and Michigan State University.

Vice President
William E. Rushing Jr., FACI, is a Vice President with Waldemar S. Nelson & Co., Inc., New Orleans, LA. He chairs the ACI Financial Advisory Committee and is a member of the Task Group on Strategic Plan Review and ACI Committees 314, Simplified Design of Concrete Buildings; 351, Foundations for Equipment and Machinery; 376, Concrete Structures for Refrigerated Liquefied Gas Containment; E702, Designing Concrete Structures; S801, Student Activities; and a Director for Creative Association Management (CAM). In addition, he serves on Subcommittees 314-B, Preliminary Design and Economic Impact; 314-D, Design Aids; and the 314 Task Group to Update IPS-1.