UA EWB Gets a Makeover

EWB-USA student chapters are feeling a lot of tension between their respective universities and the national organization. The students aren’t getting any less passionate about their work, so they are turning their energy and resources to other means.

The University of Arkansas chapter will proceed with activities, functioning under EWB guidelines. Their current project in Belize, however, will be completed under the heading of another group called Arkansas Engineers Abroad because the project wasn’t sanctioned by EWB.

AEA is an independent group that branched off from the University of Arkansas Engineers Without Borders in October to finish social work in the community of More Tomorrow, where they have collaborated with villagers and improved quality of life through engineering projects for more than two years now. The UA chapter felt free to do this partially because so many other student groups are doing the same. OKEWB is one such group, who also separated from USA-EWB and teamed up with the EWB professional chapter of Oklahoma.

“EWB is losing chapters and incentive isn’t high,” said Ben Marts, EWB international project chair. “AEA is a single-project organization that will do whatever it takes to finish up our projects in More Tomorrow. We’re contracting the work on the water tower that we’re building, digging pipes, and we hope to be down there during construction.”

EWB National recognized the UA-EWB group as an official chapter in May, but the University of Arkansas also has to sign papers attesting to the same- which they have yet to complete.The pressure on the group is to finish the Belize project, which is not sanctioned by EWB national, before becoming an official national chapter.

Each EWB project requires an extensive series of paperwork, calls, emails and other communications with EWB officers and community leaders of the assisted city. Each design is approved by a professional engineer and members must take a precursory trip to begin assessment and planning.

In some cases, Marts and his superiors find the extra trips and extra cost unnecessary. For instance, the current Belize project began with contacts that had been made by engineering professor Thomas Soerens, who took his summer classes there regularly.

“Hiring a local engineering firm would be cheaper than sending paperwork through EWB,” Marts said. “To become a national chapter…both EWB and the University of Arkansas have to agree.” The university insists that the student organization covers insurance for their international excursions, but USA-EWB considers that the responsibility of the university.

If things take longer to wrap up in Belize than originally considered, or the University of Arkansas declines the paperwork for nationals, Marts believes the AEA could be the solution, the easier way for Arkansan engineers to reach out and help other people.

“Perhaps more professional and student chapters should be combined,” he said. “You get the best of both worlds, with the knowledge and expertise of older engineers and the passion and strong sense of responsibility of the younger engineers.”