About Us

The Illinois Engineering Council is a voluntary, nonprofit association of organizations involved in engineering and/or engineering-related activities. Any organization with such involvement may be accepted for membership if it has individual professional members (engineers, surveyors, or scientists)— the organization may also have subprofessional members and/or corporate or group memberships, but trade associations, whose members are primarily of a corporate nature, are not eligible. Each member organization pays annual dues, which are scaled to the organization membership in Illinois; dues range from $60 to $305 and have remained constant for a decade or more. Member organizations, according to size, are allowed from one to four delegates, who sit on the Council’s Board of Delegates, which meets 4-5 times annually. An executive committee of officers and directors meets as necessary between delegates’ meetings to assimilate incoming information and maintain timely actions. In the recent past, most meetings have been in the Chicago area, but downstate representation is encouraged and changes may be considered to make such membership less onerous.

At present the Council has 20 member associations, some of which are identified with specific disciplines—e.g., mechanical, civil, or electrical engineering; some associations represent particular ethnicities or gender; and some are distinguished by activities related to a particular industry. Any unit or subunit of an association may join – frequently member organizations represent different geographical sections of a single society. Such units may cross state boundaries, but dues and delegate representation will be based only on the Illinois portion of such membership.

The Illinois Engineering Council was founded in 1938 as part of an effort to enact Professional Engineer registration laws in Illinois. That effort succeeded in 1941. While the Council retains a keen interest in the regulation of the practice of engineering, its mission in the 67 years since has been broadened to address other common interests of its members, including

q Improving the image of engineers and engineering

q Monitoring legislation, regulations, and court actions which may affect the engineering profession

q Serving as a communications channel among member organizations and, where appropriate, to and from the engineering community as a whole

Communications, the last item in the above list, includes both informal channels— for example, networking among society delegates, and topical discussions at delegate’s meetings; formal communications including news of current issues, educational involvement, publications, participation in annual Engineers’ Week observances (see ACTIVITIES), and, increasingly, electronic notifications, news and alerts. While the Council has no authority outside Illinois, national or regional issues may be presented for the information of the members, since some member societies have unique sources of information about national matters.

The Council’s strength is in the diversity of disciplines represented; in the diverse backgrounds of its individual Directors and delegates; and in the diverse contacts and networks which each member organization brings. We are a “common platform” and a common meeting-ground for those who are passionate about engineering.