C.V. Wootan

Biography

Dr. Charley V. Wootan
1926 - 2001

Dr. Charley Wootan had a long history of significant contributions to university transportation education and research, and his career has had a profound effect on transportation and the transportation profession in Texas and the nation.

Dr. Charley Wootan received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Texas A&M University, and he joined the Texas Transportation Institute in 1956. He served as Associate Agency Director from 1966 to 1976, and was Director of TTI from 1976 to 1993. Upon his retirement in 1993, he was named Director Emeritus.

Charley provided key leadership to a research program that has consistently been viewed as one of the best in the nation and is the largest university affiliated research program in the United States. For decades he was a national and international leader and spokesperson for the transportation research program. He was actively involved in the Transportation Research Board for over 40 years and served that organization in numerous capacities, including being selected Chairman in 1983. TRB honored Dr. Wootan with a Distinguished Service Award in 1984.

Charley long recognized the need for an organization such as CUTC and worked closely with others for many years to bring the concept to fruition. He was one of the founding members of CUTC in 1985, and he served as its first president. He was again elected president in 1990. Charley's leadership and influence clearly helped CUTC to quickly become a viable and useful organization. He was one of the leaders responsible for securing funding for the USDOT University Centers Program, a program that has been enormously successful in increasing the talent base and creating new transportation knowledge.

Dr. Wootan has been honored by his colleagues on many occasions, receiving the Federal Highway Administration's Public Service Award, ARTBA's S.S. Steinberg Award, Texas DOT's Road Hand Award, the International Right-of-Way Association's Y.T. Lum Award; and the George S. Bartlett Award, presented by TRB, AASHTO and ARTBA. At TTI, he was recently recognized through the establishment of the Charley V. Wootan Career Achievement Award for Research.

It was the guidance and support Charley provided to the hundreds of professionals, support staff, and students who have had the opportunity to work with him that truly set him apart. He was a true professional and a first class individual who helped make this country's transportation system the best in the world.