TTI’s Katie Turnbull (right) receives an ARTBA lifetime achievement award from WTDCC Chair Melissa Tooley.

Internationally known transportation leader Dr. Katie Turnbull has been honored with a lifetime achievement award by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association’s Transportation Development Foundation (ARTBA-TDF). Turnbull, executive associate director for the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), received the Ethel Birchland Lifetime Achievement Award July 26 in Lansdowne, Virginia.

Turnbull received the award through ARTBA’s Women Leaders in Transportation Design and Construction Council (WLTDCC). The WLTDCC was established in 2010 to promote leadership and career advancement for women in the transportation design and construction industries. This is the second year of the WLTDCC awards program. The Ethel Birchland Lifetime Achievement Award is named after the ARTBA executive director who served from 1924 to 1928.

“It is a great honor to receive the Ethel S. Birchland Lifetime Achievement Award from ARTBA,” notes Turnbull.  “To be recognized by one’s peers is a special honor; to receive an award named after a woman who was an early leader in the transportation design and construction industry makes it even more meaningful.”

Turnbull, who started at TTI in 1989 as an assistant research scientist, is a recognized expert on high-occupancy vehicle facilities, toll facilities, managed lanes, public transportation, transportation planning, travel demand management and intelligent transportation systems. She has nearly 35 years of experience in the transportation community.

In her role as executive associate director at TTI, Turnbull is responsible for numerous activities including managing the Institute’s System Planning, Policy and Environment Research group, which has offices across Texas, and serving as director of TTI’s new U.S. Department of Transportation-funded Transportation Economics Center.

In addition to her TTI-related activities, Turnbull is a lecturer in Texas A&M University’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning and she currently serves as chair of the Technical Activities Council. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and is sought after as a speaker for national industry conferences. During her extensive career, Turnbull has mentored women who have achieved positions of leadership at TTI, TRB and elsewhere.

Members of the WLTDCC, including TTI’s Melissa Tooley (top left) met with the White House Office of Public Engagement recently to discuss collaborative efforts in reaching out to women.

Thanks to a recent meeting with a newly formed group designed to attract women (and raise awareness of women’s contributions) to the transportation industry, White House staff members have become familiar with the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI).

Chaired by TTI Director of External Initiatives Melissa Tooley, the Women Leaders in Transportation Design and Construction Council (WLTDCC) — formed last year by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) — was invited to the White House to discuss the council’s current efforts to reach out to women.

“The White House Office of Public Engagement had heard about the council and the things we were doing to increase awareness of the contributions that women are making in the transportation industry and encourage women to consider careers in the transportation construction fields,” Tooley, the inaugural chair of WLTDCC, said of the May 30 meeting. “The White House staff members are interested in collaborating on some of those efforts. As a result of that meeting, I think we found out that some of our individual efforts can complement each other.”

According to its website, the White House Office of Public Engagement facilitates a “two-way dialogue, ensuring that the issues impacting our nation’s proud and diverse communities have a receptive team dedicated to making their voices heard within the Administration, and even more importantly helping their concerns be translated into action by the appropriate bodies of the Federal Government.” During the meeting, a member of the White House Office of Public Engagement discussed its efforts in promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to young women.

Since its inception, WLTDCC has created several initiatives to increase awareness and address the low percentage of women employed in the construction industry, including:

• an annual awards program to recognize and honor extraordinary efforts of individuals, companies and public agencies that have demonstrated leadership and dedication to innovation in the transportation design construction fields, as well as the promotion of women leaders within the industry;
• a “spotlight on women” webinar series conducted by women in transportation fields (one of the webinars was presented by TTI’s Ginger Goodin in March);
• a guest speakers program highlighting women leaders in transportation-related fields; and
• the future creation of a workforce development and mentoring program.

“During the White House meeting, I was able to share some of the things we have accomplished on the council,” Tooley said. “Of course, in sharing some of those initiatives, I couldn’t help but brag a bit about TTI and some of the accomplishments we’ve had regarding female leadership.” (The Institute was the first winner of WLTDCC’s Glass Hammer Award, honoring innovative diversity activities that have resulted in dramatic increases in the TTI’s female workforce during the last decade. See related story.)

Tooley and other members of WLTDCC say they are grateful for the opportunity to work with the White House.

“Promoting careers for WLTDCC is extremely important in order to let the younger generations know about all of the wonderful opportunities for them in this industry,” Allison Klein of ARTBA says. “Getting this career information out to industry partners and working with folks at the U.S. Department of Transportation and the White House Office of Public Engagement are essential to expanding this message around the country.”