January 1, 2012

Dear Members and Friends:

It is with great humility that I begin serving as your president. I want to thank all those of you that have come before me - Nicci Tiner, Linda Voss, Doug Ripley, Matt Selinger, Shawn Leight, Angelo Lombardo, and Brian Vines. I learned so much as we served together. Linda Voss (MOVITE President in 2006) encouraged me to run for the First Year Director office in 2005. Progressing through the offices, I now enter onto my presidential year.

Since most of you don't know me, I thought I would start with my background. I am from Omaha, Nebraska. I received my BSCE from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and my MSCE from the University of Kansas. After graduation, I joined KDOT, first, as a road designer and then as a traffic engineer.

Yes, I am one of Pat McCoy's students. For those of who knew Dr. McCoy, he was president of MOVITE (in 1992), and provided his students with a foundation as they started their traffic/transportation engineering careers. For those of who you never had an opportunity, you missed meeting an amazing person and transportation engineer.

Dr. McCoy emphasized that traffic/transportation engineering is about people. Whether you are an engineer, planner, technician or vendor, everything that we do everyday touches someone's life.

Since our careers are centered on serving others, our organization, too, is about serving others. MOVITE offers many opportunities -

   • Write an article for the MOVITE Journal.
   • Attend a chapter meeting. MOVITE has six chapters offering meetings, webinars, workshops, social gatherings, and public outreach.
   • Contact a student chapter in your area and ask them how you can help them out. They are always looking for speakers.
   • Invite a colleague to attend.
   • Celebrate our members. MOVITE has amazing people doing amazing things. Nominate a colleague for one of our awards.
   • Attend a MOVITE meeting.
   • Serve on the MOVITE board.

Speaking of meetings, we have some awesome meetings coming up:

         Spring 2012 Meeting - April 25 to 27, Lincoln, Nebraska
         At the Embassy Suites in downtown Lincoln

        Fall 2012 Meeting - September 19 to 21, Lawrence, Kansas
        At the Oread Hotel, near the University of Kansas

Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.

Please call me or email me if you have any questions or suggestions for MOVITE. Just for fun... if you read this whole note send me an email letting me know. (Thanks, Matt Selinger.)

Sincerely,

Cheryl Lambrecht
MOVITE President
lambrecht@ksdot.org