Jack E. Buffington

 2009
Jack E. Buffington
BSCE’61
MSCE’68
Research Professor & Associate Director Mack-Blackwell National Rural Transportation Study Center

Admiral Jack E. Buffington served thirty-four years in the Navy Civil Engineer Corps, wherein he rose to the position of Chief of Engineers and Commander of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in charge of Navy contracting and public works worldwide.  He was in charge of an annual workload of $7 billion dollars with over 22,000 employees.  In addition, he represented the 24,000 active and reserve Seabees and Civil Engineer Corps officers throughout in the Navy.

In his present position as Associate Director of the Mack-Blackwell Rural Transportation Center, Jack oversees studies for federal, state and local agencies and private companies concerning highways, bridges, waterways, railroads and other issues affecting rural America.  Jack is also a Research Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering where he teaches construction management.

An expert in public works and transportation engineering, Admiral Buffington is a member of several professional societies including the National Society of Professional Engineers, the Arkansas Academy of Civil Engineers, which he helped to found, and the Society of American Military Engineers.