State Transportation Secretary Wriston to speak at BSU conference

Charles Boothe, Bluefield Daily Telegraph, W.Va.
·2 min read

Mar. 31—BLUEFIELD — West Virginia Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston will be one of the guest speakers at Bluefield State University's Southern Technical Conference next week.

This will the sixth one-day conference, which has been on a hiatus because of the pandemic, and is presented as a partnership between BSU and the state Department of Highways.

The conference, set for April 6, gives students in the BSU chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) the ability to meet, network and learn from dozens of engineering professionals in the region.

"I think this is very beneficial for the students," said Kerry D. Stauffer, Ph.D., P.E., P.S., Civil Engineering Technology Professor, ASCE Faculty Advisor at BSU. "Not only the technical content that they'll be able to participate in but starting to form the framework of networking and some of those connections professionally."

Dale Hill, executive director of Builders Supply Association of West Virginia, is the first scheduled speaker from 8:40 a.m. to 9:35 a.m. Other scheduled speakers in the morning include John Tuggle, P.E., P.S., Executive Director and Lesley Taylor and Cassandra Lawson, Senior Project Specialists, for WV Region 4 Planning and Development Council.

Joe Pack, P.E., WVDOH Chief Engineer of District Operations is scheduled to speak about the "WVDOH in 2023."

Pack is the former manager of the DOH District 10 office, which covers Mercer County.

The afternoon speakers include Faheem Ahmad, P.E., S.E., of E.L. Robinson Engineering, Ryan Ward, a Senior Environmental Scientist with AllStar Ecology, and Stevie Steele, P.E., Key Account Manager for CHA Consulting, Inc.

Wriston is scheduled to give closing remarks.

Stauffer, who was also Bluefield's City Engineer for four years, said this conference has a history of students making important networking connections.

"We've had several students that have had job opportunities and end up going to work for some of the consultants," he said.

Many of those consultants have been in the West Virginia Division of Highways, and the job was "a result of people they meet and talk to at this conference," he added.

Six professional development hours are available for participating in the entire conference. To register for the conference, contact Stauffer via email, kstauffer@bluefieldstate.edu or via phone at 304-888-1957.

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com

Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com