Engineering Code of Ethics

Professionalism and ethics are twins, inseparably bound together in the concept that professional status and recognition must be based upon public service under a higher duty than mere compliance with the letter of the law. Ethics provides the framework within which engineers may travel the "second mile," so ably defined by Dr. William E. Wickenden, former president of Case Institute of Technology: Every calling has its mile of compulsion: Its round of tasks and duties, its prescribed man-toman relationships, which one must traverse daily if one is to survive. Beyond that is the mile of voluntary effort where one strives for special excellence, seeks self-expression more than material gain, and gives that unrequited margin of service to the common good which invests work with a wide and enduring significance. The best fun of life and most of its durable satisfaction lies in this second mile and it is only here that a calling can attain the dignity and distinction of a profession.