Engineering students at the University of Missouri-Rolla will pledge to “uphold devotion to the standards and the dignity” of engineering on April 26, when they join the Order of the Engineer, a national organization that promotes engineering as a public service.

Students will take the pledge during UMR’s Order of the Engineer Ring Ceremony at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 26, in St. Pat’s Ballroom A of the Havener Center on the UMR campus.

The Order of the Engineer began in Canada as a means for promoting ethics among engineers. The order’s primary means of promoting ethics is through the ring ceremony. During that ceremony, engineering students recite the “Obligation of an Engineer,” a pledge to “practice integrity and fair dealing, tolerance and respect, and to uphold devotion to the standards and the dignity of my profession.” Students then receive a stainless steel “engineer’s ring” to be worn on the fifth finger of their working hand.

The first Order of the Engineer ring ceremony was held in the United States in 1970 at Cleveland State University in Ohio. UMR initiated the ceremony soon thereafter, but the ritual was dropped during the 1980s. In the mid-1990s UMR reestablished the ceremony, which is held near the end of each semester.

For more information about the Order of the Engineer, contact Jerry Bayless, associate dean of the UMR School of Engineering, at (573) 341-4151 or visit the Order’s official website.