Bruce Tschantz Memorial Fund


Bruce Tschantz Memorial Fund

Thank you for considering a donation to the Bruce Tschantz Memorial Fund to benefit the Committee on Education Outreach and the Public Safety Around Dams Committee in Bruce's name. 

About the Bruce Tschantz Fund:

This fund honors the work of Bruce Tschantz, who was an advocate for Student Outreach and Public Safety at Dams within ASDSO. He received the BS in civil engineering from Ohio Northern University and MS and PhD from New Mexico State University. As a graduate student, he worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Albuquerque and designed the U.S.'s northernmost dam, in Alaska. In 1965 he came to the University of Tennessee, where he taught water resources courses in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and received numerous teaching awards. He retired in 2002. A great satisfaction was to encounter former students who had become successful engineers. In the early 1970s he worked to establish Tennessee's first dam safety policy, leading him to take a sabbatical after being appointed as the first Chief of Federal Dam Safety in 1980. He continued his national advocacy for dam safety until his death in 2017 of complications from cancer. He was initiated as a Fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers, and in 2016 he was recognized by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) for lifetime achievement. After retirement from teaching, his research and advocacy focused on low-head dams, with the goal of educating agencies and the public about their danger.

How to Donate:

  • Phone - Simply call 1-859-550-2788
  • Mail - Donations can be mailed to 239 S. Limestone, St. Lexington, KY 40508. Download the donation form
  • Email - To donate via email download the donation form and email it to ASDSO.
  • Online - Through the ASDSO Portal. Please note if you have not been to the ASDSO Portal before you will need to create an account first. You do not need to become a member in order to create an account. 

 


Bruce Tschantz Obituary:

Bruce Tschantz, age 78, of Knoxville, died peacefully on June 28, 2017, of complications from cancer. Bruce was born in Akron, Ohio, and grew up in the town of Dalton, where his parents owned a hardware store. He received the BS in civil engineering from Ohio Northern University and MS and PhD from New Mexico State University. As a graduate student, he worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Albuquerque and designed the U.S.'s northernmost dam, in Alaska. In 1965 he came to the University of Tennessee, where he taught water resources courses in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and received numerous teaching awards. He retired in 2002. A great satisfaction was to encounter former students who had become successful engineers. As Professor Emeritus, he taught workshops in urban hydrology throughout Tennessee. In the early 1970s he worked to establish Tennessee's first dam safety policy, leading him to take a sabbatical after being appointed as the first Chief of Federal Dam Safety in 1980. He continued his national advocacy for dam safety until his death. He was initiated as a Fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers, and in 2016 he was recognized by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) for lifetime achievement. After retirement from teaching, his research and advocacy focused on low-head dams, with the goal of educating agencies and the public about their danger. 

Bruce enjoyed fly-fishing, making BBQ, hiking, playing the harmonica, and reading history and biography. He cherished his family and friends, who valued his insight, moral character, and wit. A lifelong Presbyterian, he was a member of Second Presbyterian for forty years and had just been received into the congregation of Westminster Presbyterian.

Bruce endowed the ASDSO Tschantz Fund before his death with a large donation. We hope his generosity inspires others to perpetuate the fund through their donations.