Wisconsin Geospatial News

Jerry Mahun retires from Madison College

 

Longtime instructor will continue as a strong advocate for surveying education

jerry Mahun

 

Jerry Mahun, Program Director/Instructor in the Civil Engineering Technology Program at Madison College (formally Madison Area Technical College), since 1994, recently retired from his role of teaching technical and legal surveying classes. Prior to Madison College, Jerry taught at Penn State-Wilkes-Barre, Purdue University, and UW-Platteville. He also worked for WIDOT, BLM, NGS, even the US Army (not a good choice for either side), and consulting.

Although Jerry has retired from formal teaching, he will continue to be a strong advocate for surveying education. He is now self-employed providing workshops and seminars in technical and legal aspects of Land Surveying and continues his involvement in the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors.

While Jerry has done teaching and seminars in both the technical and legal aspects of surveying, he really enjoys presenting (and learning more about) the legal side. “How boundaries were created, actions people took with respect to them, and subsequent re-establishments are the footsteps the contemporary surveyor must follow. While looking to the past, today’s surveyor must also be aware he/she is creating new steps for future generations to follow.”

He says it’s easy to get caught up in surveying technology. He notes “we must remember the Public Land Survey System corners re-established today were orginally set with less sophisticated instrumentation. Chasing around hundredths of a foot makes little sense for a corner originally set with multiple feet of uncertainty. The accuracy for which we strive is not one of measurements, but original corner location. The fastest and most ‘accurate’ measurement is meaningless if you measure the wrong thing. We can’t always use technology to answer a legal question. Sometimes, that gets forgotten. Remember that the next time you encounter a monument ‘nest’ at a corner location.”

Jerry’s email address is: Jerry.Mahun@gmail.com

We wish Jerry the best in his new adventure!