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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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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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The 2015 SDITE Annual Meeting is nearly a month away. In honor of the host city, let's learn a little bit more about Biloxi, MS. Facts provided by the City of Biloxi.
- Biloxi was inhabited by Native Americans as early as 8,000 BC up to the 1700s. Artifacts from the four major periods of Native American history have been found on Biloxi's peninsula.
- In 1810 Biloxi became part of the short-lived Republic of West Florida.
- In 1817 Mississippi became a State. Between 1817 and 1860 Biloxi began the slow development into a favorite summer resort place for many southerners.
- In 1908 the first Mardi Gras Parade took place in Biloxi with John Carraway as King and Miss Blanche Picard as Queen.
- By the turn of the century Biloxi had become the Seafood Capital of the World. In the 1920s there were more than 40 seafood factories occupying the two cannery districts.
- In 1929 the first Blessing of the Shrimp Fleet took place in Biloxi.
- In 1992, the State of Mississippi chose to allow legalized dockside gaming.
Now that you've learned a little bit about Biloxi, why don't you check it out yourself! Go to sdite2015.org.
- Scott Walker, Editor |
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SDITE 2015 Annual Meeting Update
From: Jeff Smith, P.E. and Alison Catarella-Michel, P.E., PTOE
A few updates from Biloxi:
1) Early registration has ended but that doesn't mean that you can't still sign up to attend. However, online registration ends on April 10. Please visit our registration page for more information.
2) The draft technical program has been added to our website. We have a great program for you and I know our presenters are very eager to share their expertise with you.
3) On Wednesday of the conference, FHWA will be hosting a workshop on how to mitigate bottlenecks. The flyer can be seen here. The cost for the workshop is included in the registration price for meeting attendees. However, space will be limited. Stay tuned on information on how to sign up.
Please contact Jeff or Alison with any further questions. We look forward to seeing you next month!
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Reminder: SDITE 2016 Election
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., PTOE, PTP
Scott Walker, P.E., PTOE |
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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Transportation + Art
In this month's edition, we journey outside of the Southern District for some fun bus wraps:
Advertisement for the Copenhagen Zoo
From National Geographic
Have ideas or photos related to Transportation + Art? Email Meredith Van Duyn.
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Results Are In! Part 2
By: Cindy Pionke, Chair of Strategic Planning Committee (Primary), and, Kristina King, Knox County Engineering (Secondary)
As previously promised, this month we are bringing you the Communication Skills results from the Work Force Development (WFD) survey conducted in Greensboro, GA.
WFD provided eleven (11) possible Communication Skills that you would most like to learn about in addition to the chance to write in "Other." Responders were asked to pick their top three (3) choices. Overall the respondents selected "Explaining Technical Issues in a Non-Technical Environment," "Developing Compelling Presentations," and "Conflict Resolution" as the top three skills. Also scoring quite well were "Listening - The Ten Principles of Effective Listening," "Communicating with Elected Officials," and "Media Relations (understanding and interacting with)."
Respondents with more than 20 years of experience voted the above six topics as the most important. Respondents with 15 to 20 years of experience rated "Effective Facilitation - Relationships, Meetings, Programs and Projects" higher than "Media Relations (understanding and interacting with)." Otherwise, they agreed with their more experienced peers. Those with 5 to 10 years of experience responded that "Explaining Technical Issues in a Non-Technical Environment" and "Developing Compelling Presentations" were the most important to learn more about, with "Conflict Resolution" and "Your Emotional Intelligence Profile" as the next most important. On an interesting side note, it was not unexpected that for the respondents with less than five years of experience, they had no interest in "Effective Facilitation," "Communications and Your DISC Profile," and "Communicating Your Personal and Agency Image."
If you were a public sector employee, there were five communication skills that captured the top votes: "Explaining Technical Issues in a Non-Technical Environment," "Communicating with Elected Officials," "Effective Facilitation," "Media Relations," and "Conflict Resolution."
The only other provided response was "Communicating to Diverse Audiences (Men, Women, Generational, Race and Ethnic)." It just never garnered enough votes to make it a priority communication skill set.
So don't be surprised if you see one of the above topics as the Wednesday Professional Development session in Biloxi. "Media Relations" was covered in Greensboro - and we didn't even have the survey results in! Are we good or what? Please feel free to let us know if you concur with the survey results.
Next time we will share the Leadership Skills results.
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SDITE Website Updated
The SDITE website was recently updated with the presentations, photos, and sponsors from the 2014 SDITE Annual Meeting in Greensboro, GA. If interested, please check it out here.
Speaking of the website, when is the last time you've visited sdite.org? Did you find the information that you needed? We will be following up after this year's Annual Meeting with a survey intended to answer if the website is meeting your needs or if there is anything else we can provide. Please stay tuned for that.
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From the Sections...
Start making your plans to attend one of these upcoming meetings.
Georgia Section
The GAITE April Monthly Meeting will be April 17, 2015 will be at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Virginia Section
The 2015 VASITE Annual Meeting will be June 24-16, 2015 in Virginia Beach.
If you have other meetings you wish to share, let us know.
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Member Profile
1. Name: Todd Brooks 
2. City/State: Raleigh, NC
3. Work: Atkins North America, Inc.; 28 years
4. Title: Senior Project Manager, ITS & Traffic Engineering
5. Education: Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, North Carolina State University (1986)
6. Certifications: Licensed PE in NC, SC, GA, and VA
7. Place of Birth and Family: Born in Rockingham, NC. Married for 25 years to Maureen Hanifer Brooks; 3 daughters: Meghan, Erin, and Natalie.
8. Technical interests? Traffic signal systems and ITS design; fundamental traffic engineering; pedestrian safety and accessible design.
9. What are your hobbies? Watching my daughters play lacrosse, camping, volunteering for Special Olympics NC, shooting sports.
10. Favorite color? Wolfpack Red (but green was by favorite as a child)
11. Favorite movie? No clear favorite -- have about a half dozen favorites.
12. Favorite music? Anything by NEEDTOBREATHE, 80s rock, and a weekly dose of bluegrass.
13. In what capacity have you served SDITE in the past? Nominations Committee (2014), currently serving on the SDITE Board as one of three District Representatives for the NC Section.
14. If I were not in transportation, I'd be... living in the NC mountains, running a general store by day and sitting by a fire pit on a stream bank in the evening
15. Five Quick Questions:
- Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi (except when I visit Atlanta)
- Dogs or Cats? Dogs (preferably a Boxer)
- Telephone or Email? Telephone
- Pen or Pencil? Pen
- Apple or Android? Android
16. Three Interesting Facts About You:
1. My family was among the early settlers of Alamance County, NC. I attended the ceremony to dedicate the Revolutionary War Patriot monument to my great-great-great-grandfather, Adam Weitzel.
2. I am the first engineer in my family.
3. All three of my daughters are lefties, but my wife and I are both right-handed.
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Robot Traffic Cops
Yes, you read that right: Robot Traffic Cops. The Democtratic Republic of Congo has deployed a total of five of these to help control traffic.
According to the article, "The Democratic Republic of the Congo is expanding its network of traffic control systems that were designed to look like humanoid robots, and feature red and yellow lights on their bodies and green ones at the end of their arms"
For more information, click here.
Thanks to new Georgia Section member Paul Slone for sending this along!
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Student Chapter: Traffic Bowl
The William Temple Scholarship Challenge Traffic Bowl was started in 2005 by the ABD to encourage student participation in the Southern District ITE. Teams of three students from each Section compete in a jeopardy style challenge. The answers and questions are based on transportation and traffic related topics. Each Section has their own method of selecting the student teams. For a list of past winners, click here.
The 2015 Traffic Bowl will take place as the SDITE Annual Meeting in Biloxi, MS. The preliminary rounds start at 3:30 PM on Monday and the final round will take place on Tuesday during lunch at 11:45 AM.
Please make sure to attend to support the students and test your knowledge. And have some fun too!
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Have You Seen This?
Many of you have already seen this, but it may be worth another view.
We've said it once and we'll say it again: Transportation or infrastructure in general in the media isn't always the best thing. John Oliver takes about 20 minutes in his show to discuss the topic in a very humorous manner. Check it out.
WARNING: This video contains language that may not be appropriate for the office or around kids.
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| | Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Infrastructure (HBO) |
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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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