The Ohio State University is excited to host the 2012 Big Ten/Midwestern Universities Transportation & Parking Conference March 26 - 28. It has been 12 years since we’ve hosted the conference in Columbus, and our campus (like yours) has grown and changed dramatically in those years. The meetings will be held in the beautiful Blackwell Hotel at the Fisher College of Business on campus. The Blackwell is centrally located on campus and provides elegant, state-of-the-art guest rooms. Along with a packed agenda of breakout sessions and campus facility tours, we will be having lunch in historic Ohio Stadium with a group photo scheduled on the field! In the evenings, we will be visiting some of the most popular dining establishments in Columbus.

While we are finalizing the agenda, we are planning to stick with the theme of “Time and Change” (which are words contained in the OSU Alma Mater!), and certainly exploring operational efficiencies is something we are all being tasked to do in a time where budgets are being trimmed and staffing levels and service requirements are changing. We will have Bryan Gillum, founder of Career Max, offer presentations during two of our breakout sessions, one for Fleet, Maintenance & Transit operations and one for Parking Operations & Customer Care. Bryan and his group have been instrumental in working with our operations to maximize efficiency over the past year and half, and he will present both methodology and metrics for successful change. In addition, we will also discuss the recent privatization exercise undertaken by The Ohio State University administration to monetize the parking assets and the potential affect on campus parking operations in the future. There will also be roundtable discussions to facilitate a broad exchange of information on the latest issues or accomplishments on your campus.

As was the case for last year’s conference in Bloomington, Indiana, a conference of this magnitude is not possible without the participation and financial support of our industry vendors. We have planned a significant portion of our program to highlight the vendors, their services, and their products. We have several sponsorship opportunities available, and there will be incentives for attendees to interact with each exhibitor throughout the conference. If you are interested in registering as an exhibitor or sponsor, please visit the sponsor registration page.

Conference Attendees may register by visiting the attendee registration page.

Please contact Grant Courtheyn (courtheyn.1@osu.edu | 614-292-1247) or Mary Akanni (akanni.2@osu.edu | 614-292-7965) if you have questions or need assistance in registering.

We look forward to seeing you all in Columbus in March!
Go Bucks!

Beth Kelley-Snoke
Director
OSU Transportation & Parking Services