Although it has been 13 months since the former director of Parking and Transportation Services left Duke, the search for a replacement has not yet begun.
Kemel Dawkins, vice president for campus services, said a committee comprised of students, graduate students and faculty likely will be created this Fall, which will allow the search for a new director to get underway.
"It's a process we'd like to initiate," Dawkins said. "It's a key position, and we want student input, so it will have to wait until the Fall."
In January 2007, shortly after former director Cathy Reeve' announced her resignation, The Chronicle reported that a national search for a new director would begin within weeks of her departure.
Later, in September 2007, Dawkins told The Chronicle that the search was slated to begin this academic year. Chuck Catotti, who was named interim director, had named a few employees already working within the department as potentially strong candidates for the position.
Jeremy Block, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in biochemistry and a candidate for a masters of public policy, is a representative on the Duke Transportation Advisory Committee for the Graduate and Professional Student Council. Block wrote in an e-mail that Catotti, who has been pulling double duty as interim director and director of events management, has done a good job.
"Reeve, in the last 18 or so months of her tenure, failed to even hold a DTAC meeting, despite requests from all sides," Block said. He added that although Catotti has done well, he is not the right man for the job because his skills are better used as director of events management.'
Cattoti could not be reached for comment.
In absence of progress on finding a new parking director, other changes have occurred in Parking and Transportation Services.
The Duke Bikes program was started, and the additional Ninth Street and Erwin Mill buses began permanent routes this year, said Dawkins.
New programs that were initiated this year in collaboration with Duke Student Government, include the new carpooling initiative and free buses to the women's basketball game at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said junior Sunny Kantha, DSG vice president for athletics and campus services.
"[The bus service to the UNC game] was highly successful," Kantha said. "All the tickets sold out, and Parking and Transportation Services helped out a lot."
He added that they would like to expand the program to include other nearby away games for other women's sports, baseball and men's lacrosse.
Other plans include improvement of transportation services off campus, specifically to downtown Durham, said Dawkins. He acknowledged a number of issues with SafeRides, which the department will be discussing over the coming months.
Dawkins said improving sustainability and providing alternative forms of transportation, particularly on campus, will be a major focus in coming years. He added that input from groups such as DSG and DTAC will be crucial.
Block said parking on campus is a big issue for everyone at the University and that the problems in Parking and Transportation Services need more attention.
"DTAC can only do so much," Block said. "Without being provided funding to pilot some new ideas and projects, many of the changes we'd like to see face almost insurmountable opposition from the likes of [Executive Vice President] Tallman Trask and others who wield the power of the checkbook. I'd rather not play roulette with decisions about the parking and transportation needs of nearly 15,000 people in the Duke community."
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