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Save the Date!!! | |
April 19-22, 2015:
SDITE Annual Meeting in Biloxi, MS
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| 2015 Executive Board | |
President
Bill Seymour
Vice-President
Hollis Loveday
Secretary / Treasurer
Jennifer Bihl
International Director
Bob Murphy
Past-President
Kirsten Tynch
District Administrator
Craig Hanchey
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| Social Media | |
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SDITE Apparel | |
Don't forget to visit the Lands' End Store to get your SDITE Apparel.
Lands' End Website |
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Future Annual Meetings | |
2015 - Biloxi, MS
2016 - Nashville, TN
2017 - Columbia, SC |
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Newsletter Staff | |
Reviewers
Becky Malenke
Radha Swayampakala
Lindsay Walker
Social Media
Jeff Stephenson
Add Your Name Here Next Edition! |
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Despite the snow and cold weather that has blanketed many parts of the Southern District, transportation funding has become a hot topic in our nine states as well as in Washington. If an extension is not passed, funding ends on May 31. While there is bi-partisan support for a new bill, the usual discussions are on the table about how to pay for it, how to allocate funding, etc.
If you are interested in this topic (and I would think that most of you should be), ITE members are invited to join the Advocacy Network on ITE Community. All you have to do is log into your account on the ITE Community, hover your cursor over "My Profile," and select "My Subscriptions." Look for the Advocacy Network and select your subscription type (real-time or daily digest). If you have any questions about signing up, contact ITE Information Technology Manager Zach Pleasant at zpleasant@ite.org.
- Scott Walker, Editor |
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Vice-Presidential Message
By: Hollis Loveday, PE
I'll bet that you know at least one transportation professional that should be, but isn't a member of your ITE section, SDITE, or International ITE. They might be new to your organization, new to your city, or just beginning to practice transportation engineering in a new role as a municipal employee. I can certainly think of a few people that fit into one of those categories. How about talking to them about ITE and asking them to join. We know it's a great organization and we can attest that we get more out of it than we put into it. Maybe you can invite them to attend your next section meeting.
One of my responsibilities as Vice President of SDITE is to chair the Membership Committee. That committee keeps track of membership data and develops strategies and programs to increase membership. SDITE has approximately 1,600 voting and 1,800 total members. Wouldn't it be great to increase our membership by at least ten percent, or about 160 people in 2015? That would put us near Martin Bretherton's goal of 2,000 members. Two-thousand sounds pretty good.
So I encourage you to ask that one person to join ITE. If 160 of us are successful in enlisting one new member, we will have accomplished something significant for ITE and for that person.
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SDITE 2016 Officer Candidates Announced
Eligible voting members of the Southern District may now go online and vote for 2016 officers.
Listed below are the candidates for officers for 2016. Candidate bios are available here.
| President: | Hollis Loveday, P.E. | | Vice-President: | Jennifer Bihl, P.E. | | Secretary-Treasurer: | Jonathan Kiser, P.E.
Scott Walker, P.E. |
To vote, you must be a member of ITE. Student members and affiliates are not eligible to vote.
Balloting will close promptly at 5:00 PM EDT on Tuesday, March 31st. The results of the electronic voting will be announced via conference call with the SDITE Executive Board and the candidates prior to the Annual Meeting.
To vote, go to the SDITE Members Zone and log in.
If you experience difficulty in casting your ballot, please contact Craig Hanchey, SDITE District Administrator.
Note: The ballot includes a proposal to increase dues. You may review information pertaining to the dues increase ballot initiative here.
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SDITE 2015 Annual Meeting Update
From: Jeff Smith, P.E. and Alison Catarella-Michel, P.E., PTOE
We are excited to inform you that plans are well underway for the 2015 Southern District ITE Annual Meeting in Biloxi, MS.
This meeting will be held from April 19th to April 22nd at the Beau Rivage Hotel & Casino in Biloxi, MS along the beautiful Gulf Coast. This is a world-class resort that will provide you and your guest a memorable experience that you will not soon forget.
The SDITE 2015 Technical Program Agenda is currently being finalized. The program will feature a variety of topics of interest to Traffic and Transportation Engineers, Planners, and other Transportation Professionals, with participation from the public, private, and academic sectors. Topics will include traffic operations, safety, ITS, planning, professional topics, and leadership. In addition to the presenter sessions on Monday and Tuesday, poster sessions are scheduled, a Wednesday morning workshop will be held on Leadership and Employee Development, along with an alternate workshop on new techniques in Traffic Simulation and Modeling. Participants can receive up to 12 Professional Development Hours (PDH's) for participation in the full technical program.
We are excited to announce that registration for the meeting is now open! Please visit the registration page on our website. Early bird registration ends on March 13, 2015.
While on the website, click here to learn more about the conference hotel and how to reserve your room.
Finally, if you are wanting to be a meeting sponsor and didn't receive the invitation email, please see this page.
Y'all come join us!
Deep South LAC Co-Chairs,
Jeff and Alison |
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Advancing GIS in Highway Safety
FHWA is interested in advancing GIS-
 based efforts to support traffic safety programs through good practices, development of case studies, and eventually technical support. KLS Engineering, LLC and the University of Kentucky have been tasked to assist FHWA in this effort. Case studies that promote "good GIS practices" that support road safety programs will be developed to share with other DOTs who may be interested in advancing their own GIS practice in this area. If you have any programs and/or case studies that you consider as unique GIS practices for Advancing Highway Safety, please email to leverson.boodlal@klseng.com or eric.green@uky.edu.
Our team will also host a workshop at the 2015 AASHTO GIS-T conference: "Advancing GIS in Highway Safety." This workshop will feature presentations from participating agencies that showcase best practices where GIS has helped to advance highway safety. A facilitated discussion will be conducted, led by the review panel. Participants will be asked to comment and share strategies used by their agencies to promote highway safety. The workshop will continue by breaking into groups, each to focus on a different topic area to help identify potential noteworthy practices. It will be an exciting and very interactive workshop. Please consider registering or learn more at the site below.
http://www.gis-t.org |
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Transportation + Art
We can't help falling in love with these Elvis-inspired signal controllers in Jackson, Mississippi. It's one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, Now go, cat, go...
(Photos by Karen Mohammadi. Cheesy caption by The Connector staff.)
Have some Transportation + Art in your town that you'd like to see in a future edition of The Connector? Email Meredith Van Duyn.
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Georgia Section Launches New Website!
The time has come! The NEW Georgia Section ITE website is online!
The NEW website will keep the membership informed of news and events, and will link to our social media picture feeds, and will make it easy for new members to join!
Check out the website here: http://www.gaite.org/
Nice work Georgia Section!
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Survey Results
By: Cindy Pionke, Chair of Strategic Planning Committee (Primary), and, Kristina King, Knox County Engineering (Secondary)
 Well folks, the results are in from the survey the Work Force Development (WFD) Team conducted in Greensboro, GA. To refresh the memories of those who responded to the survey, you were asked everything from what motivates you, what leadership challenges you encounter, to what skill sets interest you. The survey had a total of 25 questions. The first 21 questions were an attempt to find out how to shape upcoming programs at future Annual Meetings and Section meetings. The final 4 questions were about the respondents.
Over the next several issues of the Connector, we will be sharing more details of the findings. The results will be broken down several times: once as a whole, then by years of work experience and then again by public vs. private sector. Aren't spreadsheets great?
So here are a few nuggets to whet your appetite:
- Communication and managerial skills tied as the most challenging skill set for all respondents.
- Communication skills, leadership skills, project management skills, business skills and technology skills were the order from most important to least important for having a successful career.
- Leadership skills would benefit the respondents the most at this point in their careers.
- Communication skills are the least likely skills to be obtained through training by respondents' current employer.
- Communication skills and leadership skills tied (with business skills just behind) as being the skill sets that would more affective in achieving the respondents career goals.
So stay tuned as we continue to share specifics about each of the skill sets. Remember: we are trying to figure out how best to meet our membership needs.
Next month we delve into communication skills.
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From the Sections...
Alabama Section
The ALSITE 2015 Spring Meeting will be held in the Barn at American Village Citizenship Trust in Montevallo, AL on Thursday, March 12.
Georgia Section
February 22-23, 2015: GAITE/ASHE Winter Workshop
February 28, 2015: 2015 Engineers Week Awards Gala
March 5, 2015: YPT Atlanta Panel Discussion
March 13, 2015: Monthly Meeting at Maggiano's Cumberland
Access our GAITE Google calendar to stay up to date on upcoming events!
Tennessee Section
The TSITE Winter Meeting will be held tomorrow (Thursday), February 19th at the University of Memphis. Additional meeting details and online registration information can be found here.
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Member Profile
1. Name: Hibbett Neel 
2. City/State: Jackson, Mississippi
3. Work: Co-founded Neel-Schaffer, Inc., in 1983, and serves as the President and CEO. The employee-owned firm has grown from two offices and 20 employees to more than 400 employees working out of 37 offices, with locations in nine states.
4. Education: Bachelor of Engineering, Vanderbilt University (1963); Master of Civil Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology (1965)
5. Certifications: Licensed PE and PLS
6. Place of Birth and Family: I was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and I have been married to Susan since 1968. We have three children and five grandchildren.
7. Technical interests? Intermodalism and complete streets.
8. What are your hobbies? Gardening, golf, and playing with the grand kids.
9. Favorite color? Black and gold. Go 'Dores!
10. Favorite Movie? Any of them where the good guy kills the bad guy and gets the girl.
11. Favorite Music? Willie Nelson and Tony Bennett
12. In what capacity have you served SDITE in the past? I am a past president, and have served as a local committee chairman three times. I have also served on many committees.
13. If I were not in transportation, I'd be... practicing law.
14. Five Quick Questions:
- Coke or Pepsi? Diet Coke
- Dogs or Cats? Dogs
- Telephone or Email? Telephone
- Pen or Pencil? Pencil
- Apple or Android? Apple
15. Three Interesting Facts About You:
1. I was raised in Smyrna, TN, and last year attended my 55-year Murfreesboro Central High School reunion.
2. I am an Eagle Scout.
3. I served in the US Army Corps of Engineers in Germany.
Editor's note: We are honored that Hibbett represented the Southern District well in his service last year as ITE International President! |
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Student Chapter Information
In The Connector this year, we hope to share more information about what's going on in Student Chapters within the District.
First and foremost, many of you have probably seen teams compete in the annual William H Temple Scholarship Challenge (Traffic Bowl). But we're guessing many of you didn't know how many student chapters there are in SDITE. Take a look at the list below of active chapters.
| University | ITE Section | | Auburn University | Alabama | | The Citadel | South Carolina | | Clemson University | South Carolina | | Georgia Southern University | Georgia | | Georgia Tech | Georgia | | Jackson State University | Deep South | | Louisiana State University | Deep South | | Louisiana Tech University | Deep South | | Mississippi State University | Deep South | | North Carolina A&T State University | North Carolina | | North Carolina State University | North Carolina | | Southern Polytechnic State University | Georgia | | South Carolina State University | South Carolina | | Southern University | Deep South | | Tennessee State University | Tennessee | | Tennessee Tech | Tennessee | | University of Alabama at Birmingham | Alabama | | University Transportation Center for Alabama | Alabama | | University of Kentucky | Kentucky | | University of Louisiana-Lafayette | Deep South | | University of Memphis | Tennessee | | University of Mississippi | Deep South | | University of North Carolina-Charlotte | North Carolina | | University of South Carolina | South Carolina | | University of Tennessee | Tennessee | | University of Virginia | Virginia | | Vanderbilt University | Tennessee | | Virginia Tech | Virginia |
Perhaps you are a graduate of one of these fine institutions. Or perhaps the school is close to where you live / work. We would strongly encourage you to get active with these student chapters as they are always looking to the professional community to help them learn what we do day to day.
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Have You Seen This?
While many of you in the South stay above freezing much of the Winter, those further up north often deal with cold weather and snow. Please enjoy this 18 second clip of an Amish horse and buggy doing 'donuts' in the snow!
 | | Amish Buggy Doing Donuts |
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We hope you enjoyed this edition. Feel free to let us know what we are missing or if you want to help us out some time!
Sincerely,
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Scott Walker, Editor
Southern District ITE |
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