From the District Director

Dear members,

I’m pleased to share a quick update along with my warmest summer wishes (it’s quite literally cooking here in Calgary!).

It’s an exciting time as ITE hosts its Annual Meeting and Exhibit this month with so much great content and speakers lined up. While I am, on the one hand, excited that future meetings will include an in-person component, I think we can all agree that the inclusive nature of virtual offerings is so important. Definitely future meetings will offer both an in-person and a virtual component as well.

Two pieces of policy I am excited to see advancing are around supporting our membership to be more empowered to design for all users. Paula Flores (ITE President, 2016) and I worked together on ITE’s most recent strategic plan to include language around providing duty of care, in the sense that we as transportation professionals have a duty to make streets safe and comfortable for all users. I’m pleased to share that this work is being carried forward through a small committee under the leadership of Michael Sanderson (ITE President, 2018).

I will also be advancing some of the member feedback from ITE’s recent listening sessions on equity to develop an ITE Board of Direction (IBOD) policy. This policy helps shape the running of the organization and the high standards in all of our technical products. Making equity implications-- like those often hidden in traffic calming community selection or in creating signal timing plans or value engineering sessions-- more clear will help our members deliver better value to the municipalities we serve.

The most exciting news I have to share is a Board decision to eliminate student member dues. This change is so timely to help support our student chapters as they also emerge from the pandemic and try to rebuild more regular activity. It also removes a barrier of dues increasing between undergraduate and graduate students and, overall, acknowledges that most of our membership growth is by fostering the next generation of transportation professionals. This change is also possible considering the current financial strength of ITE. Despite the concerns IBOD felt at the start of the pandemic, we are so relieved and proud that public, private, and academic membership rates have remained high.

JEN MALZER, M.Sc., P.Eng.

Canadian District Director director@cite7.org