Welcome to NCSITE's Homepage!

News and Updates
President's Message

Greetings from all of us on the NCSITE Board!

Before I provide you with an update on what your Board of Directors has been up to thus far, I'd like to take a moment to share my thoughts regarding a very special and tremendously rewarding opportunity that we all have in April. As everyone should have heard by now, NCSITE has the privilege of hosting the 61st Annual Meeting of the Southern District ITE (SDITE) in Charlotte, April 7-10.

Under the leadership of Danny Pleasant, the Charlotte Local Arrangements Committee has put together a superb technical and social program. The SDITE Annual Meeting is held in North Carolina only every 8-10 years; the next time it will be held in our great state will be 2021. In fact, this will be only the third time during my career that the SDITE Annual Meeting has been in North Carolina. Our celebration of NCSITE's 50th Anniversary adds extra special significance this year's SDITE Annual Meeting in Charlotte. It would be wonderful to see NCSITE Members and Affiliates turn-out in large numbers for this very special meeting in Charlotte. Early registration closes at 11:59:59 PM on March 1, 2013.

So maybe you're thinking, "All that's impressive trivia, Todd, but why should I attend the SDITE Annual Meeting in Charlotte other than to make NCSITE look good?" Let me try to answer the "why" question by sharing a few of my personal experiences from attending several SDITE Annual Meetings over the years. I attended my first SDITE Annual Meeting in Raleigh in 1994 at the encouragement of Joe Thomas, one of the great pillars of SDITE, and perhaps my most influential mentor. I am thankful to Joe for many things, not the least of which was introducing me to the great people of the Southern District. Notice that I didn't simply say "great engineers, great planners or great business persons." That's because I found at the heart of the Southern District a group of people who care as deeply about enriching the lives of each other, the communities in which they live, and those following in their footsteps as they do about practicing their profession. My career has been enriched immeasurably by my association with the great men and women of SDITE and they have been a blessing to me. SDITE has broadened my technical expertise and my thinking about what we do as transportation professionals.

Sure, you can read an ITE Journal article or technical paper written by many of these SDITE members without going to the SDITE Annual Meeting, but you learn so much more when you spend quality time with those very people enjoying a meal together, hanging out in the hospitality suites on Sunday night, and having fun together at the Monday night ABD Event. You'll get great ideas about what your counterparts are doing in other states that you can put into practice here in North Carolina and develop professional connections with folks outside of North Carolina that will benefit you for years to come. You'll also get to cheer-on the defending champion NCSITE Traffic Bowl Team as they defend their title. We have great Section in North Carolina and we are doubly blessed to be part of a great District. If you enjoy and find value in attending NCSITE events, you will be thankful that you attended the SDITE Annual Meeting.

Shifting gears (no pun intended, Charlotte), let quickly update you on activities of your Board. We now have two Board meetings under our belt (January 23 and February 21), and we have been quite busy. We have been defining our Strategic Plan for 2013 and working on our 2013 budget, both of which should be finalize in March. Our Councils, Committees and User Groups have gotten off to a strong start and there will be lots of meetings and activities to look forward to throughout the year. Although we are still in the planning stages and these events are not yet confirmed, I want to give you glimpse of few things that we're discussing to give you something to look forward to (Council and Committee Chairs, you can throw stones at me later):

• A Student-led Meeting at NC A&T State University in late April;
• A "Summer" Meeting (in lieu of the customary Midyear Meeting due to SDITE), in June or July, probably in the Triangle Area;
• A Local Meeting in Western North Carolina in August;
• A Local Meeting in Eastern North Carolina in August/September;
• Relaunch of NCSITE Mentoring Program in late Summer or Fall;
• 2nd Annual Technical Retreat in September/October;
• New NEPA User Group meetings;
• Launch of the NCSITE Endowment Fund in the Fall;
• SimCap User Group meeting in the Fall; and
• Annual Meeting and 50th Anniversary Commemoration in November.

I hope to see you all in April.

Be active, get involved, we all together will make a difference with Opportunities and Commitment. If you have ideas or thoughts on ways to improve NCSITE, feel free to email me at president@ncsite.org.

Todd Brooks
2013 Section President

Read More in the February Involver