NDSU Provost Bruce Rafert has announced that Denver Tolliver is the new director of the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, effective April 2. He has served as the institute’s associate director since 2003.
“Dr. Tolliver’s contributions to the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute over the past years and his outstanding vision for the future of its academic and research programs make him an excellent candidate for this position,” Rafert said. “We look forward to continued growth and accomplishment within the institute under his direction.”
Tolliver has been with the institute since 1980, serving as a research associate, director of the Mountain-Plains Consortium and director of the NDSU transportation and logistics graduate program. Before joining NDSU, Tolliver was a rail planner with the North Dakota Department of Transportation. During his time at NDSU, he has been awarded nearly $25 million in grant funds. Tolliver will replace Canan Bilen-Green who has served as interim director since October. She is a professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering at NDSU.
Tolliver earned his doctorate in environmental design and planning from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and has published more than 150 technical reports and journal articles during his career. His primary research interests are freight and railroad transportation, highway system planning and environmental impact assessment. He has served on the Freight Rail Committee of the Transportation Research Board and is past president of the Agricultural and Rural Transportation Chapter of the Transportation Research Forum.
In addition to research, Tolliver led the establishment and growth of three graduate degree programs at NDSU and taught eight different graduate courses in transportation and logistics. For his role in helping found and administer the transportation leadership graduate certificate program, Tolliver received the Institute of Transportation Engineers’ award for Innovation in Transportation Education.
The institute is a free-standing interdisciplinary center at NDSU. Staff members conduct research and outreach focused primarily on small urban and rural transportation and mobility. NDSU’s graduate programs in transportation and logistics also are coordinated by the institute.