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UGPTI Annual Awards Banquet to Honor Transportation LeadersPosted: Sep 23, 2021
The event will be held at Fargo's Hilton Garden Inn beginning with a social hour at 5:30 and followed by dinner and the awards presentation. Award winners are: John Roswick, retired president and chairman of the board of Midwest Motor Express; Darcy Rosendahl, retired deputy director of the North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT); Mark Wolter, director of safety and maintenance for Midnite Express; and Cal Gendreau, retired state construction engineer with the NDDOT. UGPTI will also award several scholarships. John Roswick will receive the Agrey Award, UGPTI's highest award in recognition of his state and national leadership in the trucking industry. Roswick began working at Midwest Motor Express at age 16. Following graduation and a three-year stint in the U.S. Army where he achieved the rank of captain, he returned to MME in 1972 and served as treasurer, president and chairman of the board, a position he held until his retirement in 2019. MME recently celebrated a century of transportation services in North Dakota. During the time when the N.D. Public Service Commission regulated the trucking industry, Roswick testified before the commission to inform and help craft regulations and enforcement, leading to increased gross truck weights, increases in truck length, and changes in regulated truck routes. He was active in the North Dakota Motor Carriers, serving as a board member and a former president. In that capacity, he frequently provided input into state law and regulation. In the 1980s, Roswick was a member and later president of the North Dakota Highway Users, a group that advocated for protection of gas tax funding and its use for highway maintenance and improvement on the state and federal level. In that position, he worked with elected officials, particularly Senator Quentin Burdick, to assure that North Dakota and other small-population states received their fair allocations of federal highway funds. Roswick's North Dakota Motor Carriers activities led to his appointment as North Dakota's state vice president, a post that included serving on the board of directors of the American Trucking Association. He served on the regulatory committee, which evaluated and provided recommendations to ATA's legislative, policy, and legal staff for action. He also served on the labor committee, which advised on legislation, regulations, trends, practices, and policies in the transportation industry workplace. Roswick served in those positions until his retirement after 33 years of service. He was also member of The National Motor Freight Traffic Association, Inc., which advocates for trucking issues to federal agencies and the Supreme Court. Roswick was a long-time president of Bismarck Industries, a development partner of the Bismarck-Mandan Development Association, which was instrumental in bringing more than 1,000 new jobs to the Bismarck economy. He also serves as a board member of the Thomas and Francis Leach Foundation, which gifts more than $1 million annually to regional non-profit organizations that support the arts, humanities, education, medical sciences, and health and social services. The Agrey Award recognizes and honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the state of North Dakota, its citizens and its business community through involvement in transportation. Darcy Rosendahl will receive the Chairman's Award, which recognizes his work in establishing partnerships between NDDOT and UGPTI. In his roles at NDDOT and during his time as NDLTAP director, he helped UGPTI develop research and outreach programs that provided valuable support to NDDOT. While deputy director at NDDOT, Rosendahl headed the four-state Transportation Learning Network dedicated to distance-based transportation training and education. While with NDDOT's Materials Division and Planning Division, he continuously supported research at the department and university level. Rosendahl worked for NDDOT from 1985 to 2011 in the Design Division, Materials and Research Division, the Planning and Programming Division, and the Office of Operations. His experience includes traffic and urban design, geotechnical engineering, pavement design, pavement analysis, materials testing, pavement research, transportation planning, traffic analysis, traffic operations, federal aid programming, construction, maintenance, and civil rights. Rosendahl worked for UGPTI as director of the Local Technical Assistance Program assisting counties, townships, and cities improve their roads and bridges. He returned to NDDOT in 2013 as deputy director, a position he held until his retirement in 2017. Rosendahl earned his B.S. in civil engineering from NDSU and was an active member of the Central Dacotah Chapter of the American Society of Highway Engineers and the American Public Works Association. He was a registered North Dakota professional engineer. Darcy and his wife, Sara, both natives of New Salem, ND, reside in Bismarck. The Chairman's Award recognizes individuals for contributions to transportation research, education, and outreach at NDSU, and/or contributions to the viability of UGPTI. Mark Wolter and Cal Gendreau will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes individuals who have had a distinguished career in a transportation-related field and have demonstrated long-term professional excellence. For Wolter, the award recognizes his more than 46 years of service and leadership to the transportation industry, particularly in the area of truck safety. Wolter grew up in Moorhead and attended M State Community and Technical College, earning a degree in diesel technology. He has been involved with trucking for over 40 years as a mechanic, shop foreman, fleet administrator and, since 2009, director of safety and maintenance at Midnite Express trucking company, from which he will retire in December. Wolter is certified by the North American Transportation Management Institute as a "Director of Safety" and has been a safety director for trucking companies for 28 years. Wolter served on the board of directors for the North Dakota Motor Carriers Association for 12 years and was president of the association from 2015 to 2017. He received the association's Safety Professional of the Year award in 2005 and 2009. Wolter has served on the N.D. Truck Driving Championship Committee since it began 28 years ago, and led the event from 2010 to 2019. Wolter has served at the Health, Tech and Trades Career Expo, held at the Fargodome and attended each year by about 3,500 students. For the past 12 years, he has presented the NO-ZONE Program, which illustrates truck areas where there is limited or no visibility. Wolter has taken the program to numerous other locations and events, including UGPTI's 50th anniversary celebration in 2017. Wolter received the ND VISION ZERO "Infrastructure Program of the Year" Award for the program in 2020. Wolter is a board member of the Transportation Club of Fargo Moorhead, serving as president from 2009 to 2021. For 16 years he led the club's monthly "Safety 20 Focus Groups" meetings. He is also a member of the Northern Regional Association of Safety Professionals and serves on group's annual conference committee. Wolter has served on the Metropolitan Council of Governments' transportation technical committee since 2015. Wolter serves on truck driver training program advisory boards for the North Dakota State College of Science and Alexandria Technical College. Wolter is also a member of the State of Minnesota District 4 Freight Plan Advisory Committee and chairs NDDOT's Vision Zero Priority Emphasis Team on Heavy Trucks. He also serves on the UGPTI Advisory Council. Wolter and his wife, Sue, have three children, five grandchildren, and one more on the way. Gendreau, a former NDDOT construction engineer, is being recognized for his innovative and progressive work in integrating new technology into the design, bidding, and construction of highway projects across North Dakota. Gendreau began working for the North Dakota State Highway Department as a temporary construction employee in 1974. He received a B.S. degree in civil engineering from the University of North Dakota in 1976 and became a registered professional engineer in 1980. Gendreau's 42-year career with NDDOT included highway and bridge construction, highway design, and construction contract administration. He designed the first recycled concrete pavement project in North Dakota on Interstate 94. From 1991 to 2017, he served as North Dakota's State Construction Engineer and guided the development of internet bidding, automated construction records, and the use of mobile data collection devices on highway construction projects. As an active member of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Gendreau helped advance highway construction specifications. Retired from NDDOT, Gendreau and his wife, Dana, continue to reside in Bismarck. Their two sons are now also engineers. Scholarship AwardsIsaac Deal and Tyler Enerson will receive the Paul E.R. Abrahamson Transportation Scholarship. The scholarship recognizes outstanding students at NDSU with an interest in the transportation and logistics of agricultural products. Funding for two $1,500 scholarships is provided by the Mountain-Plains Consortium through the University Transportation Centers program of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Deal, a Herman, MN, native and Wheaton High School graduate, is a junior in agribusiness and also earning a minor in business administration. He is a member of Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity, NDSU Saddle and Sirloin Club, and the NDSU Agribusiness Club. In high school, Deal was a member of the student council, FCCLA, FFA, and the National Honor Society. He volunteered with the Wheaton Lions for their ditch cleaning project; was an American Red Cross blood drive volunteer; and participated in the Traverse County tree project, Relay for Life, Feed the Children, Toys for Tots, and the local food drop. He graduated summa cum laude from Wheaton Area Schools and was valedictorian. Deal has been named to the NDSU Dean's List three times. With experience in farming, landscaping, and snow removal, Deal is currently a sales intern with John Deere Kibble Equipment in Wheaton and is the owner and operator of his own company, Isaac Deal Custom Ag. Following graduation from NDSU, he plans to pursue a several entrepreneurial opportunities and develop a career in agri-sales. Enerson is a senior in agricultural economics from Grand Forks pursuing a minor in crop and weed sciences. A graduate of Red River Senior High School in Grand Forks, Emerson is on the NDSU track and field team and currently serves as event captain. He also serves as treasurer for the NDSU Student Athlete Advisory Council and is a member of the NDSU Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Emerson volunteers for the emergency food pantry, Feed My Starving Children, and the Red River Cleanup. He has been named to the NDSU Dean's List twice. Enerson worked for Minnkota Electric Cooperative and for his father's crop insurance company. After graduation, he plans to pursue a career as a crop insurance agent. Joncy Mastel will receive the Charles E. Herman Scholarship. A Wahpeton, ND, native and graduate of Wahpeton Senior High School, Mastel is pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in mechanical engineering. She is a teaching assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and serves as the VP of corporate communications for the NDSU Society of Women Engineers. Mastel is also a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. She volunteers with NDSU's TechKids program and conducts personal academic tutoring. Mastel has been on the NDSU Dean's List one semester. She earned her associate's degree in engineering at N.D. State College of Science, was a product development engineering intern with John Deere, and also a test engineering intern with AGCO Corporation. Mastel plans to pursue a career in product testing and design. The Charles Herman Scholarship recognizes academic achievement and promotes the education of transportation students with a preference to women and minorities at NDSU. Funding for one $2,000 scholarship is provided by the Charles E. Herman Scholarship Endowment Fund at the NDSU Development Foundation. Cameron Dahlin and Mitchell Larson will receive the Transportation Engineering Scholarship, which recognizes academic achievement and promotes the education of NDSU transportation students. Funding for two $1,500 scholarships is provided by the Mountain-Plains Consortium through the University Transportation Centers program of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Dalhlin, a senior in civil engineering, is from Thief River Falls, MN, where he graduated from Lincoln High School. Dahlin is a member and current president of NDSU Engineers Without Borders. Through that organization he volunteers at Liberty Middle School in Fargo assembling lesson plans to interest students in STEM fields. He is also working with Engineers Without Borders to develop a water distribution project to benefit more than 600 members of a rural Guatemalan village. Dahlin is also a member of the NDSU Engineering Ambassadors and the NDSU GeoWall team, which took third in the 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers GeoWall competition in 2020. He received the Rotary Youth Leadership Award, has been named to the NDSU Dean's List five times, and was nominated for the NDSU Mary McCannel Gunkelman Award. Dahlin was a construction inspection intern with SRF Consulting and a water resources intern with HDR Engineering. After graduation, he plans to pursue a career in civil engineering and hopes to stay in the Fargo-Moorhead area. Larson, a junior in civil engineering from Zimmerman, MN, attended Elk River Area High School. He is a member of NDSU's Sigma Nu Fraternity where he serves as recorder, and he oversees recruitment as a member of the executive board. Larson is also active in the NDSU club hockey and serves as a Welcome Week leader helping students develop connections to NDSU. He was a three-time captain of his high school hockey team, and his work experience includes roofing, retail, food service, and parks and recreation. Along with earning academic letters, Larson was regularly on his high school honor roll and has been on the NDSU Dean's List three times. Following graduation, he is interested in a career as a transportation engineer with a focus on developing ways to make transportation safer and more efficient. |
The Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) at North Dakota State University will honor transportation leaders from across the region at its