First License

UW Event Marks 100 Years of Engineering Licensure

Feb. 15, 2007 -In 1907, 56-year-old Charles Bellamy of Laramie obtained the nation's first professional engineering license. The University of Wyoming College of Engineering will mark the 100th anniversary of that event with a reception Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 4 p.m. in Room 1062 of the Engineering Building. Some of Bellamy's descendants, including some who attend or have graduated from UW, are scheduled to attend.

Also invited to attend the UW event is Barbara Scott, a 1959 UW graduate who was the first woman to obtain a professional engineering license in Wyoming.

"For 100 years now, UW has stressed to our students the importance of obtaining licensure, so it is appropriate that we celebrate this milestone at the University of Wyoming," says David Whitman, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "We have Charles Bellamy's first license on display in the Department of Civil Engineering to demonstrate our long-time emphasis on pursuing a professional license."

Licensure requires engineers and surveyors to prove themselves and holds them accountable, Whitman says. According to the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES), "licensed professional's signature and seal symbolize reliability and integrity. They verify that the person is qualified and dedicated to public health and safety."

Whitman notes that Wyoming's emphasis on licensure can be traced to before Bellamy obtained the first license. "NCEES reports that when Clarence T. Johnston accepted the position of Wyoming state engineer more than a century ago, he found individuals working as engineers who lacked the training to competently carry out their duties," Whitman says. Johnston prepared a bill to mandate registration and to create a board of examiners. In 1907, the Wyoming legislature turned that bill into law, creating the first U.S. engineering licensure law.