Distinguished Engineer Citations

                 

Horace L. Smith

Distinguished Engineer

1978

Degree

Civil Engineering – 1948

 

Citation

At Time of Nomination in 1978

In December 1925, a rising star was born in the small Texas town by that name. The reference is to Horace L. Smith, who in 1948, graduated from Texas Tech with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degree.

Today in professional life, Mr. Smith is director of the Water Pollution Control Division of the Indiana State Board of Health. His career has also included positions as assistant director of the Department of Public Works and general manager of the Wastewater Division of the city of Houston, Texas. Before that he served the city and county of Denver, Colorado, as director of the Wastewater Control Division of the Department of Public Works. Earlier positions included director of Public Works and Utilities and city engineer for Snyder, Texas, design and resident engineer for the Lubbock consulting engineering firm of H.N. Roberts and Associates, and worked as an engineer for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

In 1974, Mr. Smith was selected as one of the Top Ten Public Works Men–of–the–Year by the American Public Works Association. That same year, the Rocky Mountain Water Pollution Control Association granted him its Collection System Award. A year later, he received the Water Pollution Control Federation’s Collection System Award. His work in urban drainage planning and design has been recognized by the Consulting Engineers’ Council of Colorado. The Denver Regional Council of Governments, which he served as chairman, has presented him its Distinguished Service Award. In 1977, he was named president of the Water Pollution Control Federation which is the largest private organization in the United States concerned exclusively with water pollution control, an area in which he is nationally and internationally known for his technical knowledge and management abilities. Prior to that, he served as president–elect and vice president. He is now immediate past president.

Mr. Smith has published numerous technical papers, has presented congressional testimony on water pollution control, and has lectured on this subject in Canada, England, and Mexico. His list of civic and professional memberships and activities is a lengthy one.

By his achievements, Horace L. Smith has brought credit to his alma mater and to the engineering profession. In return, Texas Tech University honors him as a DISTINGUISHED ENGINEER.

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