University of Southern California Academic Receives Prestigious National Honor
Louis Nelson Dyble, Ph.D., of the USC Keston Institute is awarded the Michael Robinson Award by the American Public Works Association (APWA).
KANSAS CITY, MO. (November 6, 2008) — Dr. Louise Nelson Dyble, associate director for research at the Keston Institute for Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy at the University of Southern California (USC), recently received the American Public Works Association (APWA) Michael Robinson Award.
Established in 1981, the Michael Robinson Award is presented annually by APWA's Public Works Historical Society to recognize the best new article published in the field of public works history. The award provides encouragement and recognition to historians whose research and publications contribute generously to the body of public works history. Dyble was selected for the award by a committee of public works professionals and scholars.
Dyble's award-winning article, "Revolt Against Sprawl: Transportation and the Origins of the Marin County Growth-Control Regime," was published in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of Urban History. The article outlines the failed attempt to create a Bay Area regional authority modeled after the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
"I became interested in the history of public works because it inspires me," said Dyble. "It reveals the immense potential we have as the citizens of a great nation and society to make collective investments in the future, investments that have the broadest possible benefit and that will make us all richer in the long run."
Much of Dyble's work has centered on public works history. Since completing her dissertation on the history of the Golden Gate Bridge in 2003, she has had fellowships in environmental studies at UC Berkeley and in political history at the California Institute of Technology. Her book, Paying the Toll: Power, Politics and the Golden Gate Bridge, will be available in February through the University of Pennsylvania Press.