Jim Ferguson
The city of Baton Rouge, La., is beginning to look much better these days, thanks to James “Jim” Ferguson (BSCE 95) and the work he’s been doing.
Ferguson, who also has an MBA from Louisiana State University, is chief construction engineer in the capital city and parish of East Baton Rouge’s Department of Public Works. Since May, he has been responsible for construction oversight of around $750 million in capital improvement projects (e.g., sewers, bridges, roadways, sidewalks, etc.).
His position is the latest in a series of departmental promotions Ferguson has had over the past nine years. A professional engineer registered in Louisiana and Mississippi, he is also a certified floodplain manager, certified levee inspector for the state of Louisiana and a National Highway Institute-certified bridge inspector.
“I came up through the ranks in public works,” Ferguson said. “Beginning with reviewing consultant work with the city’s Development Review Committee and designing municipal projects, I advanced to floodplain administration, levee protection, bridge program management, statewide flood-control program management, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers program management and FEMA flood program management.” Ferguson’s previous title was chief engineer in the engineering division of Baton Rouge’s DPW, where his responsibilities included oversight of design and administration of the parish’s infrastructure programs pertaining to sewage, streets, drainage and bridges. Seven years before that, he was the special projects (drainage and bridges) engineer.
Before joining Baton Rouge’s public works department, Ferguson was a project leader for Alvin Fairburn and Associates in Denham Springs, La., where for three years he designed municipal, residential-subdivision and commercial-development projects. As an assistant operations manager and project engineer for Willbros, Ferguson integrated computer-aided design into operations in West Africa.
“I did structural and production platform design,” he said. “I also designed components of oil and gas manifolds for fabrication, road construction and offshore pipe-lay barge operation.”
South Wastewater Treatment Plant, one of the largest projects Ferguson supervises for the city of Baton Rouge.
Ferguson has operated A.J. Ferguson Jr. Consulting Services since 2005.
“With the sole proprietorship, I specialize in hydraulic studies, residential subdivision and commercial site plan design, bridge inspections and general civil needs,” he said.
The alumnus said he loved his time at UM.
“Coming from LSU to Ole Miss was quite an adjustment, but when it came time to leave Ole Miss, I literally felt homesick,” Ferguson said. “It is a wonderful community built around a great university. One of the things I loved about Oxford was the proximity to outdoors. I spent lots of time fishing in the creeks, rivers and lakes surrounding the town. I also like the strong English department, where I took an elective almost every semester. I ended up with 18 hours of English and loved it.”
Civil engineering professor Waheed Uddin and his transportation class stand out in Ferguson’s memory.
“I really enjoyed the practical way he taught and brought personal experience to the table of instruction, not just theory,” Ferguson said. “I believe the smaller class sizes at Ole Miss allowed for a proper student-to-teacher ratio, allowing a professor to dedicate more personal attention to a student, or a body of students, in a certain class.”
Uddin remembers Ferguson as a serious and attentive student.
“We had some great students in the 1995 graduating class, and he certainly was among the top ones,” Uddin said. “Jim is one of those graduates who excelled in the classroom and continued his training by learning in the field with his senior colleagues and peers. I am not surprised by Jim’s outstanding professional success.”
From Ferguson’s sophomore to senior year, he served on the American Society of Civil Engineers student chapter board in some capacity. It became a launching pad for team building and organizing participation in regional ASCE competitions at other schools.
“Some of my fondest memories were driving in an Ole Miss minivan around the Southeast with my classmates to compete in the spring ASCE concrete canoe and bridge-building competitions. What great memories,” he said.
Ferguson has made several generous donations to his alma mater since graduation.
“I believe my time at Ole Miss has allowed me to become, professionally, who I am today,” he said. “The broad base the civil engineering curricula offered, coupled with the attention to practical experience the professors shared in the core curricula classes, is paying off for me as I continue to advance in my career.”
Ferguson said he believes more professional engineers also will have MBAs in coming years.
“The presence and value of business principles in the engineering business are becoming more and more evident,” Ferguson said. “The more we as engineers can educate ourselves in the field of business, the more opportunity there will be.”
Ferguson is married to the former Stephanie Hicks. The couple and their two sons, Benjamin and Layson, live on a family farm north of St. Francisville, La., less than a mile from the Mississippi border. The family members spend much of their time swimming, fishing, hunting and going on other adventures.
Ferguson coaches U6 soccer with the kids in his parish recreation league and volunteers as a math and reading tutor for inner-city second and third graders. His service stems from his concern about a national decline in these areas.
“We do not stand a chance as a country unless we get proactive and try to make a difference with the education of the next generation,” Ferguson said. “Every spring and fall, I do lots of guest lecturing to LSU senior civil engineering students. It leaves me smiling every time.
“These kids keep me feeling young,” he added.
