About TECET
THE POWER OF A PLACE is created by the ideas and deeds of people who occupy it. One Walnut Street in Boston is more than a building. It is the home of The Engineering Center, a wellspring for the community of engineers, surveyors, and allied professionals whose creative energies ease our daily lives and make our world work.
The Engineering Center Education Trust is an educational and charitable nonprofit trust and owner of One Walnut Street in Boston. Since October 1989, TECET has fostered education of engineers, surveyors, and allied professionals with emphasis on life-long learning. TECET provides a home for professional and technical meetings, public outreach, and society management. TECET also;
- Cultivates an atmosphere for learning and professional
camaraderie through technical meetings, educational and professional
development programs, a library, web site, grants, and events to inspire
increased public awareness of our profession, and
- Provides a permanent home for our engineering and land surveying societies.
The TECET Grant Program fosters education and related research
in engineering and land surveying and aides other non-profit organizations
in meeting their missions involving engineering and land surveying education.
Here are a few examples of programs supported by TECET:
- Professional and Technical Seminars and Programs: grants for educational programs designed to disseminate information about the art and science of engineering and land surveying.
- Operating Support: grants for operating support of non-profit organizations involved in engineering and land surveying education and continuing education.
- Awareness Programs: grants for programs aimed at increasing the understanding of engineering and land surveying among high school and other pre-college students as well as the general public.
In 1989, TECET became steward of One Walnut Street, home of The Engineering Center. Its interior is exquisitely detailed in Victorian style with an exterior emblematic of Boston's red brick architecture. The building was designed by Charles Bulfinch in 1804, the renowned architect of the Massachusetts State House and U.S. Capitol building, the building is named The Phillips-Winthrop House after its former residents John Phillips, Boston's first mayor, whose son Wendell Phillips, the famous abolitionist, was born in the house in 1811. Connected through the century to the paths of prominent Bostonians, the house was donated in 1939 to the Judge Baker Foundation by Mrs. James Storrow. In 1978, a complete historic renovation restored the house to its present carefully preserved condition. The rehabilitation was certified by the U.S. Department of Interior, documenting the building's significance to the Beacon Hill Historic District.
In 1998, TECET dedicated the first floor of One Walnut Street to Dr. Harl P. Aldrich, Jr., in recognition of his significant leadership and generous contributions in the creation of The Engineering Center. Today, the rich historic legacy continues. Through The Aldrich Conference Center, The Engineering Center serves the engineering community and other industries, catering to diverse professional meeting needs.
A twelve-person Board of Trustees consisting of four representatives from each of the following sponsoring societies governs TECET:
- American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts (ACEC/MA)
- Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section/ASCE (BSCES), the oldest technical society in the United States, established in 1848
- Massachusetts Association of Land Surveyors and Civil Engineers (MALSCE)
In addition, the LSP Association has two representatives serving as ex officio Trustees.
TECET assists The Engineering Center in meeting the educational part of its mission. The Engineering Center is an association management company owned by the three societies represented on the TECET Board.
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