VDOT Head To Discuss State's Transportation Crisis Oct. 10 At Virginia Tech

"Transportation crisis in Virginia: Will we be able to get there from here?" will be the topic of the Vecellio Distinguished Lecture to be delivered by the Commonwealth's Transportation Commissioner Philip A. Shucet at Virginia Tech, Oct. 10 at 4 p.m. in 2150 Torgersen Hall.

As head of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Shucet is responsible for the nation's third largest state-maintained highway network. A 1972 graduate of Virginia Tech, Shucet came to VDOT with 30 years of experience in transportation planning and management, including leadership positions with both the Arizona and West Virginia departments of transportation.

Before his appointment as VDOT commissioner, Shucet was executive vice president and chief resource officer of Michael Baker Corp., an international engineering company.

Under Shucet's leadership, VDOT has completed a reorganization aimed at improved efficiency and has become the first U.S. transportation department to provide a public-access web site for updates on highway construction projects.

The annual Vecellio lecture is sponsored by an endowment established by the Vecellio Family Foundation and individual family members in support of the Construction Engineering and Management Program of Virginia Tech's Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The endowment also funds scholarships, fellowships and a professorship.

The late Leo Vecellio Sr., a 1938 graduate of Virginia Tech, was president and CEO of Vecellio & Grogan, one of the largest highway construction and mining companies in the eastern U.S. Leo Vecellio Jr., a 1968 Virginia Tech graduate and now head of Vecellio & Grogan, is joined in support of the endowment by his mother, Evelyn Vecellio; his wife, Kathryn, and their sons, Christopher and Michael; and Patricia Vecellio.