Boots on the Ground – Flats in the Boardroom was hosted at the University of Southern California’s Doheny Memorial Library on Wednesday evening, March 23, 2016. The event was co-sponsored by the Los Angeles chapter of WTS (Women’s Transportation Seminar), an international organization dedicated to building the future of transportation through the global advancement of women. I had the pleasure to volunteer, attend, and network, and thanks to the generosity of donors, I and all student attendees received a copy of the book that was the inspiration for the event,  “Boots on the Ground, Flats in the Boardroom.” Grace Crunican, General Manager of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) moderated panelists LaVerne Francis Reid, former Airports Division Manager at the Federal Aviation Administration, Dana Hook, Vice President of CDM Smith, Mengazhao Hu, Senior Transportation Planner at KOA Corporation, and USC Viterbi School of Engineering Vice Dean James E. Moore, II.  These speakers brought a wealth of knowledge and experience from the private, public, and non–profit/academic sectors. The panelists were asked a series of personal and professional questions that allowed them to share their experiences, challenges, successes, and failures in the transportation profession. The panelists stressed the importance resilience, flexibility, and hard work as well as the value of networking and association memberships.

Learning firsthand of the highs and lows, successes and struggles these practitioners have had in their professions and lives was a valuable experience.  Striking to me was the common theme of women on the panel making the difficult decisions to leave their careers for 12 to 18 years at a time to care for their children. Dana Hook, now the Vice-President of CDM Smith, a consulting engineering firm in San Diego, shared her story of returning to school to redevelop the skills necessary to reenter the engineering profession, and actually removing an advanced degree from her resume so that she could be considered for a lower position than her degree might suggest.   Coming from a male perspective, I see the stories shared as vital to my development as a young Urban Planner. I would not be able to empathize with the life experiences of professional women if it were not by listening to stories like the ones shared today and envisioning through this discourse what a wonderful world it would be if more women entered into these decision making roles.  

Furthermore, I was expecting my academic background in the Master of Planning Sustainable Land Use concentration to limit my ability to participate in conversations with transportation practitioners. To my surprise however, the event was not about the technicalities in transportation, but rather about students and our future development as professionals. I noted several themes consistent throughout the night that I hope my peers also captured. The moderator and panelists discussed the intersections between personal and professional lives, importance of networking, risk taking, and the important and universal role of negotiation. They offered insights on what we, as young professionals, ought to do now and plan to do in the future for a successful career track.

I would highly recommend other students to participate in events such as these to broaden their perspective to achieve a more holistic view of the planning world.

Direct Links to Presentation

YouTube: https://youtu.be/qi67RbVO09U 
iTunes U: http://goo.gl/HV0Sq

Highlights: https://youtu.be/6wFP8-8Lu34

USC YouTube

USC Price YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/uscprice 
METRANS Playlist: http://goo.gl/Rndka

USC iTunes U Site Information

USC Price iTunes U Channel: http://goo.gl/UQkAnZ 
METRANS Playlist: http://goo.gl/Rndka

Oscar Monge

Oscar Monge is a first year Master of Planning student with a concentration in sustainable land use and social equity issues.