WTS L.A. Chapter Honors USC Professor With Inaugural Award

James Elliott Moore Jr., a professor at the University of Southern California, receives the first annual Diversity Leadership Award from the Women's Transportation Seminar for his efforts to advance cultural awareness.

Gloria Dixon, the diversity co-chair for WTS national, honored Professor James Elliott Moore Jr., of the University of Southern California in January with its first annual Diversity Leadership Award for his extraordinary efforts to promote diversity and cultural awareness within his organization and across the industry as a whole.

Speaking at a WTS Los Angeles event in February, Gloria Dixon, the diversity co-chair for WTS national and vice president of diversity and economic opportunity for Dallas Area Rapid Transit, lauded James Elliott Moore Jr. for playing an "active role in providing women and minorities with resources and opportunities they might not otherwise have." Photo by John Livzey.

"Professor Moore plays an active role in providing women and minorities with resources and opportunities they might not otherwise have," said Dixon, who also is vice president of diversity and economic opportunity for Dallas Area Rapid Transit. Dixon presented the award to Moore at a WTS L.A. ceremony in downtown Los Angeles.

"Helping to level the playing field in transportation for women and minorities is simply the right thing to do," said Moore. As [Moore] sees it, "the inequity shouldn't exist in the first place. Given that it does, though, ignoring it makes you complicit."

Moore is director of the transportation engineering program at USC, co-director of the construction management program, and chair of the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial Systems Engineering in the Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of Engineering. Dixon said he has been instrumental in developing opportunities for women and minorities-both within his organization and beyond.

"I press the agenda of looking for deserving women and minority students every chance I get," Moore said. "USC has made great strides in recent years to provide access to women and underrepresented groups, especially when it concerns faculty. Without compromising its standards, the leadership has been extremely active in recruiting women and minority groups."

Presenting a bouquet of flowers to John Elliott Moore Jr., left, is Ying Chen of CH2M Hill. Moore is director of the transportation engineering program at USC, co-director of the construction management program and chair of the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial Systems Engineering in the Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of Engineering. "If you want the very best students, it helps to focus on a global market," Moore said at the February event. Photo by John Livzey.

Moore was spearheaded the creation of USC's Women in Science and Engineering Program, a program specifically aimed at increasing the representation of women in science and engineering.

"Having received a $20 million gift to endow the program, the WiSE program supports students, postdoctoral associates and faculty so that USC can double the number of WiSE faculty at USC within five years," he said.

Since its inception less than five years ago, the total number of female faculty has almost doubled-rising from 15 to 26-and that number continues to grow.

Moore is equally devoted to promoting diversity and cultural awareness among students.

"If you want the very best students, it helps to focus on a global market," he added." It would be the height of ethnocentrism to believe that the best and the brightest only come from North America."

His efforts have had a direct result on university enrollment. Last year, an ethnic breakdown of USC students revealed that 68 percent of its students were non-white minority and international students, with more than 26 percent of those students coming from India, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand.

Moore's efforts also extend beyond the university. He is part of a small group of faculty who founded Metrans, a United States Department of Transportation- and Caltrans-funded organization that is devoted to solving the transportation problems confronting major metropolitan areas by using an integrated multi-modal approach that blends the disciplines of engineering, policy, planning, public administration, and business administration.

Mirroring his efforts at USC, Moore uses Metrans to create opportunities for female and minority students to gain exposure to transportation policy issues. Through Metrans's projects, Moore's students work closely with agencies like the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and Caltrans.

Moore, who is a director-at-large on the Los Angeles WTS board, contributes generously to the WTS-L.A. Scholarship Fund--he donated $8,500 last year, which doubled the amount that WTA-LA was able to award to scholarship recipients.

He also introduces students to the organization whenever possible. "I strongly promote membership in WTS to all of my students," he said. "It is one of the most important investments that any transportation-focused engineering student can make in her career."

AGC Spring Conference Set for May 12-13

AGC of California has finalized plans for its annual Spring Conference, to be held in Monterey on May 12-13.

Themed "You 'Otter' Be Here," the conference and associated meetings will again take place at the Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa.

The association's state and division Board meetings will be held the two days prior to the conference. AGC also will hold a special educational program in conjunction with the conference, featuring Grant Lungren, founder and CEO of Grantlun Corp. He has 40 years of heavy civil construction management experience.

The educational seminar will focus on strategic business planning and will address the nature of planning. Lungren also will address the construction business framework that a company's strategic plan should incorporate, components of an effective strategic business plan, key questions it should answer and how to put the plan into action.

Planned events for the 2005 AGC Spring Conference include a "Sail Away to Monterey" welcome reception and "Down by the AGSea" reception and dinner.

Early registration deadline for the conference is April 18. Registration information is available at AGC's Web site at www.agc-ca.org or by calling (916) 371-2422.