The World in Motion
Volume 4, No. 3
Fall 1998
An official publication of the International Institute for
Surface Transportation Policy Studies

Table of Contents

Profile of Walter B. McCormick

IISTPS Board of Trustees

Walter B. McCormick is President and CEO of the American Trucking Association (ATA). Before taking the helm at ATA, Mr. McCormick was a partner with Bryan Cave LLP, an international law firm of more than 500 lawyers, and headed the firm's practice group on Regulatory Affairs, Public Policy and Legislation. Prior to that, Mr. McCormick was General Counsel of the U.S. DOT and served for more thana decade as a senior staff member of the United States Senate. He served as General Counsel of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in the 99th Congress, and as Republican Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the Committee in the 100th, 101st, and 102nd Congress.

Mr. McCormick has been deeply involved in federal policy development, and supervised the drafting of many transportation and telecommunications laws. During his tenure with the Congress, Mr. McCormick was identified by Roll Call Magazine as one of the 50 most influential staffers on Capitol Hill, out of more than 15,000 who work there.

Mr. McCormick holds degrees in jounalism and law from the University of Missouri. He has studied international economics and political science at Georgetown University, and has completed the program for senior managers in government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, the Missouri Bar, and the Transportation Law Section of the Federal Communications Bar Association. He has been chosen for recognition in Who's Who in American Law.

Mr. McCormick lives in Alexandria, Virgina with his wife Mary Lou and their two children.

Research

by Bill Derrick, Research Director

As a result of the nearly three-fold increase in our annual budget stemming from the passage of TEA21, the pace of the Institute's research is expected to increase dramatically during the coming year. The FY 1998-1999 budget earmarks over $1 million (including carry overfunds from last year) for research and outreach activities. These activities include (1) conference, symposia, and public forums on transportation policy issues; (2) maintenance and improvements to the Institute's website, TransWeb, and it's transportation library; and (3) formal research projects.

Research Projects
As the research program begins to accelerate, we are also contemplating some changes in the way research projects are identified, prioritized, and structured. These procedures, while not yet finalized, will be presented to the Board of Trustees at its forthcoming meeting in January 1999.

The first step in the process will be to directly solicit proposed research projects from each of the Institute's certified Research Associates, as well as members of the Board of Trustees and others. Research proposal abstracts will then be reviewed and prioritized through a process involving the Research Associates Policy Advisory Committee (RAPOC) and the Research Committee of the Board of Trustees. The Institute's funding agencies, RSPA and Caltrans, will also be afforded an opportunity to comment on proposed projects.

The prioritization process will use criteria that reflects the Institute's research objectives, including:

This process may also enable the Institute to fund a number of smaller research projects that might be undertaken by individual Research Associates, as opposed to the larger projects previously conducted with larger research teams and budgets, and may provide more opportunities for graduate students to participate in research projects.

Fall Symposium
A one-day symposium focusing on the financing of transportation improvements is currently being planned for November 17, 1998, and is to be cosponsored by the Commonwealth Club of California and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. The moderator for the symposium will be Gary Richards, "Mr. Roadshow" of the San Jose Mercury News, and will feature a panel of experts addressing various approaches to paying for highway, transit, and bicycle/pedestrian improvements, including discussions of gas taxes, sales taxes, tolls, and innovative financing.

Hemalatha Ramachandran Takes Over Library Duties

Hemalatha Ramachandran ("Hema") has recently assumed responsibility for the IISTPS Transportation Library. Hema is a Senior Assistant Librarian and Engineering Librarian at San José State University's Clark Library. She holds a B.A. from the School of Librarianship, University of North London (England) and a Master of Library Science from Florida State University. Prior to joining the staff as SJSU, she served as the Reference/Bibliographic Instruction Librarian and Head of Public Services for the Northwestern University Transportation Library.

Hema's Extensive experience with transportation research will make her a valuable resource to the Institute's Research Associates and Students. She has already begun an effort to expand the library's transportation journal holdings and to consolidate publications contained within the Clark Library that are of interest to researchers.

Hema has also expressed her interest in helping Research Associates who are undertaking new projects for the Institute, by performing literature searches, locating and obtaining publications, and providing other assistance that might be needed.

Hema can be contacted at (408) 924-2777, or by email at hemaram@email.sjsu.edu

Dr. Linda Valenty to Coordinate Symposium Program

Dr. Linda Valenty, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at SJSU, has recently assumed responsibility for coordinating the Mineta Institute's symposium program. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California at Davis, and a Master of Science in Public Management and Policy Analysis from California State University at Sacramento. She has published extensively in the fields of public policy, American politics, and political psychology.

Dr. Valenty is currently organizing a symposium on transportation financing to be held on November 17, 1998. She is also laying the groundwork for the second annual videoconferenced symposium on sustainable transportation. It is a program that IISTPS sponsors in support of the Secretary of Transportation's Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Futures Program, which involves participation by elementary school students from across the nation.

Education

by Rob Vitale, Education Director

The second set of courses for the Fall '98 schedule have been finalized. Class dates for MTM203, Transportation Markets and Business Development, are October 20, 22, & 29; November 5, 12, 19, and 23; and December 3,10, and 17. Course origination will be at SJSU. This is the recommended course for first-year students.

Second-year students will have the opportunity to take a special elective, Contemporary Issues in Transportation, facilitated by Gary Richards of the San Jose Mercury News. Gary is well-known for his reporting of transportation issues in his regular "Roadshow" column in the Mercury News. Students will be responsible for semester projects addressing contemporary issues and will have access to several guest speakers with diverse backgrounds and viewpoints. Primarily originating from SJSU, Gary is expected to take advantage our remote access to enlist a wide array of speakers. This course is an elective in the MSTM Program but cannot be taken for credit by Certificate students.

Partners Program
The Education Program relies on the support and commitment of program sponsors outside of the traditional academic community. We will soon begin the process of establishing our first reception sites outside of California for the Fall 1999 semester. As always, we request that you consider sponsorship of a site and/or students in our program.

Directions

by Rod Diridon, Executive Director

The three-year reauthorization marathon for the Nation's transportation community is complete except for the approval by Congress' Appropriations Joint Conference Committee. While those deliberations will have major impact on the balance between transit and highway development, and other traditional points of controversy, both Houses of Congress have agreed on substantially increased funding levels for transportation, research, education, and training.

For the Mineta Transportation Institute, that means a three-fold increase from $250,000 per year to $750,000 in basic grant funding. And, with a tremendous vote of confidence from our California legislators, the Governor, and Caltrans, we received a 100% matching state budget appropriation! Indeed, our 1998-1999 base-budget, including carry-over projects, will be approximately $1.9 million, with more projects expected to be approved soon.

While that is a wonderful statement of support by the federal and state transportation leadership, it carries a new burden of responsibility for the Institute. We have retained a consultant to assist with the update and expansion of our strategic plan which we will submit to the Board of Trustees for review in the next month. We are also in the process of retaining a consultant to assist in the development of more formalized internal operations procedures to support the program expansions that are described in the articles from Research Director Bill Derrick and Education Director Rob Vitale in this newsletter.

We are favored with a period of rapid change, challenge, and opportunity for the Mineta Transportation Institute. Give a call or drop a line if you have thoughts to share. Thanks for your continued leadership and support during these dynamic times.

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