SPRING 2005
VOL. 6 NO. 2

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Teaching professor Bill DeWitt is excited about transportation. Really, really excited. He brings to his subject the fervor other people reserve for politics or sports teams.

DeWitt’s collection of ties reflect his enthusiasm, decorated as they are with planes, trains, automobiles, ships, hot air balloons, the space shuttle, bicycles—and turtles? “Okay, the turtle is a stretch,” he laughs. “But it’s the Maryland mascot, and it does transport its shell around!”

DeWitt has been a teaching professor in the department of business, logistics and public policy since 1999. His long career in transportation includes 25 years in the railroad industry. He worked for Burlington Northern Railroad for 22 years, including as vice president of marketing and sales, before returning to the University of Tennessee to earn a PhD in transportation. He teaches undergraduate and MBA classes in transportation and logistics as well as EMBA classes in supply chain management, and he wears a transportation tie to every class he teaches. His students have come to expect it.

“We have a great group of students at Smith, and it is a pleasure
to help the next generation think through the opportunities that are
coming in the 21st century and beyond,” says DeWitt. “Until
recently, transportation hadn’t changed much since the 19th
century. With the birth of the digital economy and the globalization
of trade, the structure and capability of transportation systems is changing, and there are more major changes to come, created
and driven in part by students graduating from the Smith School.”

Through his lectures, DeWitt helps students understand the key
role transportation plays in every business endeavor. You might even say he “ties it all together.”