Institute of Transportation Engineers University of Colorado Denver Student Chapter
Fall, 2010 Report
The newly-formed student chapter at University of Colorado Denver has had three successful meetings during the fall of 2010. After a period of inactivity of seven years, the student chapter experienced a re-birth last spring and the groundwork was laid for a re-launch in the Fall, 2010. With UCD being a commuter school, gaining traction for an after-hours student group has been a challenge. Nevertheless, marketing for the first meeting of the fall was intensive, with posters around campus and the engineering building, tables at student involvement fairs, e-mail marketing to prospective student chapter members, and Executive Board members “talking it up” in front of their classes and in their social gatherings.
The Chapter’s first meeting (September) was a screening of the award-winning film “Falling From Grace” about America’s dependence on the automobile and the negative effects on society due to urban sprawl. The film’s director/writer/producer, David Edwards, was at the screening to introduce the film and answer questions after. Using attendance can be a dangerous method to measure the success of an event, but when 18 people were at the first meeting, the Executive Board was very, very pleased and excited about the next meetings.
The second meeting (October) was attended by 28 people as we were introduced on-site to the City and County of Denver’s Traffic Management Center by Traffic Engineer James Fox. This meeting was off-campus (about ½ mile from campus) yet attendance was excellent and the program was stimulating. The November meeting was championed to those in attendance.
The November meeting was a talk by Steve Rudy of the Denver Regional Council of Governments, Denver area’s MPO. Unfortunately, the season’s first snowfall coincided with the hours before the meeting and attendance was only seven people, despite the promise of a taco bar to feed hungry students. This meeting was also a 7 PM start. The program was very interesting and lasted almost two hours, so those who were in attendance gained a tremendous amount of information from Mr. Rudy.
The Executive Board is experimenting with different times of the day for meetings and also with different days of the week, seeking to discern any preference by students for either a consistent day-of-week/consistent-time-of-day or a variety to ensure everyone is afforded the opportunity to attend most meetings. The decision for spring, 2011 as to which model to follow will be made soon.
Report by Mike Bowline, ITE UCD Student Chapter President
November 16, 2010
