Thomas J. Seburn

The ninth President of ITE, Thomas J. Seburn served two post war years from 1945 to 1947.  He had been elected Vice President in 1943 and had been on the Board of Direction before that.

Mr. Seburn was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in July, 1902 and received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1926.  After graduation Mr. Seburn moved to Kansas City, Missouri and was employed by the Kansas City Public Service Company.

In 1929 the city had a comprehensive traffic survey underway sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.  The conclusions of the survey indicated that the traffic engineering division should be established and Mr. Seburn became the first traffic engineer for Kansas City in December, 1930.  Over the years the division gradually expanded until in 1951 it was the Department of Traffic rather than a division of the Public Works Department and Mr. Seburn, of course, was the director.

In 1954, Tom accepted a position with the Bureau of Highway Traffic at Yale University, later becoming its associate director.  He retired from Yale in 1967 and moved back to Kansas City where has been active in working with the Safety Center at Central Missouri State University.  He served as a lecturer and consultant for various firms.

Mr. Seburn was co-author of Urban Transportation Administration which was published in 1958 and was considered the bible for transportation administration at that time.  Mr. Seburn was active in illuminating engineering and served on the Illumination Engineering Society in various capacities.  He was also active in work of the Highway (Transportation) Research Board and the American Public Works Association and American Society of Civil Engineers.