Mike Ward

Honorary Member Dr. Ward passed away at Foothills Hospital on Tuesday, December 17, 1996 at the age of 60 years. Mike had a thirty-one year association with the University of Calgary with appointments including vice-president of Research, Head of the Department of Civil Engineering and, since 1993, Executive Director of the Engineering Internship Program. He was particularly proud of the growth of the internship program to a point at which almost eighty per cent of all third-year students participated in a strong university/industry alliance.

His many friends and students will remember his sense of fairness and generosity and, above all, his sense of humour. Friends will also remember fondly Mike's tales of triumph and woe on the golf course and in his sail boat.

Mike was born in Birmingham, England on July 2, 1936 and received his primary and secondary education there and in Winnipeg. He graduated in civil engineering from the University of Manitoba in 1959 and in 1961, was awarded the Diploma of Membership of Imperial College (DIC). In 1964, he received his Ph.D. from Imperial College where he carried out a research program in the Concrete Structures and Technology Department. He had an Athlone Fellowship during his studies at Imperial College, University of London. From 1964 to 1965, Mike was co-responsible for the organization of a structural response group at the Suffield Experimental Station. At the same time, he was co-director of Canadian participation in Operation Sailor Hat in the Hawaiian Islands.

Mike joined the Department of Civil Engineering at the U of C in 1965 and he became department head in 1972. Among his many accomplishments as department head were the establishment of the Division of Survey Engineering (now Geomatics), the project management specialization and the Masonry Institute. A particularly proud accomplishment was the new civil engineering wing which opened in 1982. In 1984 Mike left engineering to become vice-president of Research, a position he held until his retirement in 1993. While he held that post, the University made great strides in technology transfer activities, including the creation of University Technologies International.

During Mike's career, his awards included: Frank Spragins Award from APEGGA; American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Sanford E. Thompson Prize for best paper in materials technology; honorary memberships in the Alberta Land Surveyors' Association and the Alberta Ready Mix Concrete Association; and Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada and the American Concrete Association.

Mike's many community and business activities included board memberships in the Alzheimer Research Board; Arctic Institute of North America; Office of Coal Research and Technology; Alberta Micro-electronics Centre; Alberta Research Council; Telecommunications Research Labs; University Technologies International; Advanced Computer Technology Corporation; High Performance Computing Centre Polymer Science Corporation; and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Centre of Excellence in High Performance Concrete. Mike was also an active member of the Rotary Club of Calgary.

With all of his academic and professional accomplishments, Mike considered his greatest legacy to be his family.