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When Ted first moved to Anchorage, there were only two paved roads in the entire city. He remembers looking over the fence of his childhood home (where the  now stands) and being completely enthralled when work crews extended the sidewalk all the way to 8th Avenue. Ted arrived at the right time to launch a long career in civil engineering and it鈥檚 safe to say he had a hand in building the city and鈥攖hrough his work with Alaska Railroad鈥攖he entire state.

Ted鈥檚 also seen significant growth from 暗网视频as well, particularly the booming engineering program he has supported over the years. Ted endows a chair in arctic engineering; he served as founding president of the 暗网视频Alumni Association and throughout his career had a well-justified policy of only hiring University of Alaska graduates. His list of accolades runs from Alaska Engineer of the Year to Rotary District Governor鈥攁 position that had him flying to every local club from Yukon the Siberia. Now he can add Alumni of Achievement, the award he鈥檒l receive at this year鈥檚 .

Every question or thought leads him to an engrossing anecdote or entertaining story about his work throughout Alaska. Just ask about the time he brought his wife to watch a remote mountain railroad tunnel being removed with high explosives. With Ted, toxic chemical smoke and bridge installation make for a good date night. 鈥淵ou have to be ready for this if you marry an engineer,鈥� he laughed.

He鈥檚 seen a lot of changes in a still-growing state, and he鈥檚 dedicated to creating and providing opportunities for 暗网视频students in his retirement. 鈥淔or a civil engineer, this is prime ground,鈥� he said of Alaska. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot to do. Even just putting piped utilities in all of the remote villages, it鈥檒l take decades.鈥�

Army Corps of (Teenage) Engineers

Like many Anchorage residents of his generation, Ted can tell a story about the Good Friday Earthquake changing his life鈥攈e just happened to be in Massachusetts at the time. He enrolled at MIT and was wavering in his original interest in biochemistry for two main reasons鈥攖he biochem labs smelled horrific, and job prospects would be slim in Alaska. While debating his academic options in Cambridge, tectonic plates rattled the other end of the continent and set his plans in motion. 鈥淭he earthquake is why I got into civil engineering,鈥� he stated.

Returning to Anchorage the summer after his freshman year, Ted saw a damaged landscape desperately in need of engineers. His high school鈥攁t the time Anchorage High, now West High鈥攈ad been reduced from two stories to one since he graduated a year earlier. 鈥淔or an engineer, that was a good summer,鈥� Ted said. 鈥淲e were busy.鈥�

Ted鈥檚 older brother鈥攚orking towards an electrical engineering degree at University of Washington鈥攃ame home for a job with the Army Corps of Engineers and enlisted Ted鈥檚 help. Their parents had moved back to Idaho, so the brothers bunked on base at bachelor officer鈥檚 quarters and spent the summer rebuilding their hometown.

鈥淭he Corps was charged with fixing enough of Alaska before winter so the schools could open and water and sewer worked,鈥� Ted explained. With a crisis on their hands, the Corps soon promoted Ted to resident engineer for the repair of Fort Richardson鈥檚 schoolhouses, the base field house and Birchwood Elementary. 鈥淎t some point they figured out I knew something, I guess鈥� Ted laughed.

He spent the summer driving an olive green jeep around base while sporting the white hardhat and castle decals of the Army Corps. He oversaw 12 million dollars worth of contracts. It was 1964 and Ted was 19 years old. 鈥淚t was so much fun,鈥� he said.

When he still enjoyed the work after a summer of perpetual 12-hour days, he knew he鈥檇 found his career path. Back at MIT, he switched to civil engineering and headed to the financial aid office. 鈥淚 told them how much I came back with and the financial aid officer said 鈥楰ids can鈥檛 make that kind of money,鈥欌�� Ted recalled. 鈥淭hey gave me twice as much as I needed, so I bought a car to 鈥榗ommute鈥� back and forth to Alaska in the summers.鈥�

Halfway through college, Ted came down with a rough case of mono and wound up in the infirmary for six weeks. 鈥淚f you miss a couple weeks at MIT, that semester is toast,鈥� he noted. 鈥淵ou drop out and save your money.鈥� So he did the wise thing and canceled his classes for the semester. However, the country was at war in Vietnam and, in Ted鈥檚 words, 鈥淟ocal board #1 here in Anchorage was really hard up, so Uncle Sam called.鈥� Ted swapped his hardhat for a helmet and joined the Army.

When he returned to MIT after several years, classes were suddenly a breeze. 鈥淲hen I was there before the military, I was a young kid. I didn鈥檛 know what I was doing,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 went back, had a wife, a child, spent time in war and I got straight A鈥檚. It was so easy. I couldn鈥檛 believe it.鈥� He graduated two years later and celebrated by throwing his razor in the trash can forever. 鈥淭hat was the last day I shaved,鈥� he added. 鈥淚 just said, 鈥榳ell that鈥檚 enough of that.鈥欌��

Alaska education for Alaska engineers

Ted returned to Anchorage and started working for the city engineering department, soon shifting to the Alaska Railroad to design bridges and ports. With his money from the generous GI Bill, he enrolled at 暗网视频to get his master鈥檚 in Civil Engineering. It was the days before online courses and Professor Eb Rice鈥攚ho Ted calls 鈥渢he guru of arctic engineering鈥攚ould fly his Cessna 170 down once a week from Fairbanks to hold required classes in Anchorage.

Ted and his wife Gloria are firm believers in the value of an Alaska education for Alaska engineers, and they鈥檝e showed their support for 暗网视频by creating an endowment in arctic engineering. 鈥淲hen I came back, even though I went to the best engineering school in the world, I was not comfortable doing design work in a lot of areas and especially in the arctic and subarctic until I鈥檇 taken all those courses.鈥�

鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I鈥檝e supported arctic engineering,鈥� he continued. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 an area where the challenges are only going to get worse as the permafrost gets weaker and weaker and you鈥檙e trying to save your dang building from settling into the tundra.鈥�

It鈥檚 a daunting problem, but it鈥檚 easier to tackle when you trust your employees and their education. 鈥淲e鈥檝e learned from long experience that it鈥檚 really very important to the viability of this state that we have homegrown professional ranks. It just works better,鈥� he explained.

He almost exclusively hired 暗网视频students during his career (he even gave Virginia Groeschel鈥攁nother of this year鈥檚 Alumni of Distinction鈥攈er first internship at Tryck Nyman Hayes Inc.)

鈥淎t TNH I never hired Outside,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚t just didn鈥檛 work. Think about trying to send some kid from southern California to a project on . Talk about a culture shock.鈥� When Ted was CEO of TNH, there was a time when 90 percent of his employees had at least one degree from UAA.

That same homegrown motivation led him to co-found the 暗网视频Alumni Association and serve as its first president. It prompted him to found new organizations built to lobby for engineering funding. 鈥淚 used to speak to the University of Alaska Board of Regents all the time, they knew what I was going to be talking about,鈥� he laughed. 鈥淏ut I think all of us that have been involved鈥� we can be reasonably proud of what we鈥檝e been able to do to support the growth [of engineering at UAA].

鈥淎nd, of course, the results are totally amazing.鈥�

Engineering enrollment continues to grow, the College will open a second building in 2015 and the university continues to offer support for practicing engineers. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a big charge for a state university. That鈥檚 why we support the state university. It supports the profession by doing research, by doing mini courses, seminars, all these other thing鈥�technology is moving along all the time and if you don鈥檛 pay attention, there鈥檚 just new products, new materials, new ways of doing things that are a whole lot better.鈥�

As CEO of TNH, he couldn鈥檛 be out on the site every day, but he still made sure to give himself a fun assignment every once and a while. His final project before retiring was a large-scale contract to realign railroad tracks through Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, bringing him back to the place where his interest in engineering first started. It was tidy coda to an extensive career, combining his military experience, railroad background and passion for engineering in one last hurrah.

Today, Anchorage has far more than just two paved roads (the city鈥檚 population is roughly 25 times larger than when Ted first arrived) and Ted and his colleagues effectively built the state of Alaska over the past 60 years. Through his endowment and continued support of the university, he鈥檚 now dedicated to educating the next generation of engineers that will lead Anchorage and Alaska into its second centennial.