WTS Newsletter Summer 2014 Issue 17

The Transportable Times
SUMMER 2014
Founded in 1977, WTS is an
international organization of
over 5,000 members whose
mission is to “transform
transportation through the
advancement of women.”
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Monica Crider, P.E.
President
[email protected]
Melissa Hennessy, P.E.
Vice President
[email protected]
Robyn Kennedy, EIT
Treasurer
[email protected]
Rhonda Jalbert
Secretary
[email protected]
Tracy Olsen, P.E.
Awards Chair
[email protected]
Stephanie Borders
Corporate Partner Chair
[email protected]
Kelli Fairless
Scholarship Chair
[email protected]
Cristina Brischler
Communications Chair
[email protected]
2013 WTS Awards Banquet
Issue 17
Recent WTS Lunch and Learn Events
Our April 17th Lunch and Learn on the Downtown Boise Multimodal Center was a
packed house with over 48 attendees. Rhonda Jalbert, Development Director for Valley
Regional Transit (VRT), gave an engaging presentation on the history, status, and plans
for the Downtown Boise Multimodal Center. VRT has partnered with Gardner Company to develop the center as part of a new office/convention/retail development center
on the west side of the U.S. Bank Building near the corner of Capitol Boulevard and Main
Street. The multimodal center, which will be built underground, will provide a hub for buses, bicyclists and
pedestrians. More information is available on the VRT
website http://www.valleyregionaltransit.org/ Thank
you to VRT for providing their conference room for
the meeting.
Dave Fotsch spoke at the May 29th Lunch and Learn on
the Boise Bike Share Program. Dave is the director of
Boise Bike Share for Valley Regional Transit and his
passion for the program was apparent during his presentation. Bike Share is a form of transportation to
provide people living, working and visiting downtown
Boise with an alternative way to travel. Boise Bike
Share will develop a network of bikes and stations in downtown Boise and on the Boise
State University campus. The proposed system will have 140 bikes and 14 stations strategically located in the service area.
The June 26th Lunch and Learn on the Idaho Rural
Partnership. The speaker was Mike Field, Director
of Idaho Rural Partnership. There were 26
attendees .
David R. Butzier, P.E.
Programs Chair
[email protected]
What’s Inside
Page 2
- Adopt-a-Highway Litter Crew
- Upcoming Events
- Free lunch
Page 3
- E-Girls
- Gold Sponsor Highlight
Page 4
- WTS Annual Conference
Page 5
- Treasure Valley Survey Results
Page 6
- Treasure Valley Survey Results
(cont.)
- Member Highlight
Karie Davidson, E.I.T.
Transportation YOU! Coordinator
[email protected]
Dyan Bevins, P.E.
Membership Chair
[email protected]
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The Transportable Times
STAY CONNECTED
WITH WTS
Thank you to the Adopt-a-Highway Litter Crew!
Nine participants picked up 25 bags of litter on Saturday, June 28th.
The WTS newsletter is
published quarterly. The
newsletter focuses on the
people, organizations, and
events that are helping
WTS “Advance Women
in Transportation” in the
Treasure Valley and
Photograph of participants, left to right:
beyond.
Karie Davidson, Horrocks Engineers
Donn Carnahan (not shown), Keller &
Associates plus his two daughters and his
niece
Dave Butzier, URS
Monica Crider, ITD
Paul Wasser, GeoEngineers
Mac McOmber, URS
A big thanks to the Pick-Up crew!
Upcoming WTS Treasure Valley Events
August 28th Lunch/Learn - Boise Airport, Rebecca Hupp presentation from 12:00 to
1:00 - BOI's air service, BOI's relationship w/ Military & A-10 Issue, and BOI's property
development.
Optional Tour from 1:00-2:00 - Baggage handling, Air Rescue Fire Fighting Building, &
Airfield Maintenance Building
Sept XX (23rd or 25th target) Lunch/Learn - Transportation Policy, Funding, etc.
with Stuart Davis or Wayne Hammon, Idaho Transportation Coalition
FREE LUNCH!
Be the first to find the unusual phrase
and you’ll win a free WTS luncheon!
Email the phrase, the page number, and
the article title where you found the
phrase to
[email protected].
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The Transportable Times
E-Girls!
The Treasure Valley WTS Chapter participated in this year’s E-Girls event, put on by Boise
State University June 13-14. E-Girls is a free overnight program for girls in 9th, 10th and 11th
grade exploring engineering and computer science careers. Three WTS members, Monica
Crider, Robyn Kennedy and Karie Davidson, presented on Civil Engineering. They talked to
two groups of 25 girls about the different fields of Civil Engineering, and pointed out the
Join WTS Treasure Valley many things that are used daily that are available because of civil engineers. The highlight of
the presentation was the asphalt cookie activity. This activity taught the girls green hippo
on Facebook. “Like” our
moped a little about material engineering and the process of mixing and placing asphalt. The
page to keep up to date on girls mixed their own “asphalt” using cookie ingredients as coarse and fine aggregates, and
hot chocolate sauce as the asphalt binder. They then rolled their “asphalt” and let it cool to
upcoming events,
networking, and volunteer mimic how asphalt is placed at a job site. While the cookies cooled, each of the participating WTS members were able to share about some of the interesting projects they are curopportunities.
rently working on. This was such a fun event, and WTS is looking forward to participating
next year!
Gold Sponsor Highlight—HDR
HDR is a 100% employee-owned, full-service architecture, engineering, and consulting firm
with more than 8,500 staff worldwide focused on solving our clients’ most complex challenges. HDR has worked on projects in all 50 U.S. states and 60 countries. With more than
110 employees in Idaho, HDR was recently awarded the 2013 Employer of the Year by
WTS International. Our workforce is over 30% women and minorities; we have more than
100 WTS members, six WTS chapter presidents and over 20 members that serve on WTS
Boards, including Dorri Raposa from Boston who is the Chair of the WTS Foundation. Virginia Borkoski, Senior Project Manager in our New York office was appointed as director
on the WTS Foundation Board of Directors and Mike Schneider, Principal Consultant in the
Los Angeles office, was elected as director on the WTS International Board of Directors to
help WTS build the future of transportation through the global
advancement of women. Locally, HDR is proud to have been the
Treasure Valley Chapter’s Employer of the year in 2013, the past
two Members of the Year and have several staff that supports
the Chapter as elected officers, board members and committees.
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The Transportable Times
A Perspective: WTS Annual Conference May 14-16, 2014
Dyan Bevins
I, along with Tracy Olsen and Stephanie Borders, attended the 2014 WTS Annual Conference in Portland in May. I hadn’t been to any conferences since I had started at ACHD
over 4 years ago and decided that since the WTS Annual Conference was so close this year
it would be a good one to go to. I had no expectations – except maybe to earn some
PDHs for my license. Having no expectations it seems silly to say but my expectations
were blown out of the water.
From the first morning at breakfast when I started meeting amazing women in transportation from all over the country and world, I was hooked and a little star struck. The room
filled up with hundreds of women and I was so inspired. Where did all these women come
from? One of the speakers over the three days asked us when we were all together in a
general session to raise our hands if we were often the only woman in the room when we
are back at our offices. Almost everyone raised their hand! In my naiveté, I thought, how
could that be with all these women in this room? But it is and we still have some work to
do.
To be honest, I had been a lukewarm WTS Treasure Valley member up to that point (and
maybe some would still say that!). But at the conference, I got “it” – “it” clicked. I knew
what WTS was all about, the feeling I had and I wanted to bring that back to the Treasure
Valley. It is difficult to put into words what the “it” is. IT is inspiration; support; changing
the transportation industry in a positive way; and many other things.
Of course Stephanie and Tracy, current Board Members, were there to encourage me and
let me know that there was an open position on the Board. That is how I came to be the
Membership Chair. I hope to be able to convey to renewing and prospective members
what “it” is about WTS that would make them want to stay and to join.
L to R: Dyan Bevins, Stephanie
Borders, WTS President /CEO
Marcia Ferranto & Tracy Olsen
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The Transportable Times
Recent Survey Results
JOIN WTS
TREASURE VALLEY
http://
www.wtsinternational.org/
The WTS Board knows that keeping our members happy is important to the success of
our Chapter. Making sure WTS members are informed, interested, and engaged in our
events is one of our main priorities. To gauge opinion on our signature event, the Annual
Awards Banquet, we recently conducted an online survey. The survey asked eight
questions and we received 22 responses to the survey and want to share the results.
Question 1. Have you attended the WTS Banquet?
22 Responses
Yes – 77.27%
No – 22.73%
Question 2. If yes, please indicate the events you have attended.
17 Responses; 5 Skipped
January 2014 – 94.12%
January 2013 – 82.35%
January 2012 – 58.82%
November 2011 – 52.94%
Question 3. – How important is the venue?
22 Responses
Very – 13.64%
Somewhat – 68.18%
Neutral – 18.18%
Not very – 0%
Not at all – 0%
Comments:
Riverside is best so far; No preference; JUMP; Someplace that smells good, has well-lit
parking, and in a nice part of town; Something nice to make the night a more
special event.
4. What kind of entertainment do you prefer?
17 Reponses
Chicks and Giggles – 29.41%
Fool Squad – 58.82%
Speaker – 52.94%
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The Transportable Times
Recent Survey Results (continued)
JOIN WTS
TREASURE VALLEY
http://
www.wtsinternational.org/
5. Was the event length too long, too short or just about right?
18 Reponses; 4 Skipped
Much too long – 0%
Somewhat too long – 5.56%
Slightly too long – 16.67%
About right – 77.78%
Slightly too short – 0%
Somewhat too short-0%
Much too short -0%
6. Would you pay more to have a plated dinner rather than a buffet?
22 Responses
Yes – 31.82%
No – 68.18%
7. Would you participate in a raffle at the banquet to raise money for the WTS
Scholarship Fund?
19 Responses; 3 Skipped
Yes – 73.68%
No – 26.32%
8. Any other suggestions to improve the event?
3 Reponses; 17 Skipped
All company representatives in attendance should be introduced.
A dynamic draw makes it more fun because more people show up.
The survey is still open, if you’d like to add your opinions or suggestions. Just click on:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/98VQDMH
Member Highlight—Robyn Kennedy, E.I.T.
Robyn Kennedy graduated from the University of Idaho in
2010 with a degree in Civil Engineering. Originally from
Spokane, she moved to Boise 2 years ago to begin working at
T-O Engineers. While at T-O, she has gained experience in
drafting, design, inspection and construction administration
on various projects including bridges, roadways, and airports.
Robyn joined WTS because she whole heartedly agrees with
its mission of advancing women in transportation and wanted
to be part of it. She is excited to be the Treasurer and
grateful for the opportunity to get to know more people in
the transportation community and further develop leadership
skills.
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