Rebecca White, director of the Department of Parking and Transportation, is retiring from the University of Virginia.

A retirement reception is planned for White at the Observatory Hill Dining Hall Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will be food available through 1:30 p.m. and light refreshments afterward.

“Becca White has been a tremendous leader for UVA Parking and Transportation over the years, and we are grateful for her considerable experience and vision,” said J.J. Wagner Davis, UVA’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. “She also has been a wonderful ambassador for the entire University community. Her warmth and kindness will be missed as much as her acumen and expertise in the field of parking and transit.”

White, who graduated from UVA, began her career in Parking and Transportation as a bus driver for the University Transit Service in 1982, and later became a student supervisor. She stayed on after graduation and worked her way to become director of the Department of Parking and Transportation in 2001.

In her time with Parking and Transportation, she supervised all permitting, transit and facility operations on both the academic and Medical Center campuses. Under her directorship, Parking and Transportation launched several initiatives, including real-time bus tracking and a smartphone application to find the nearest bus stop, arrival time estimates and service impact notifications. The department also rolled out CavPool, the University’s ride-share program providing incentives for faculty and staff to carpool to work and reduce the number of single-occupancy vehicles on Grounds.

Parking and Transportation under White’s direction also had to adapt University Transit to COVID restrictions, keeping buses running on a schedule while adjusting to personal distancing restrictions.

Last summer, White announced the University would purchase its first electric buses, due to arrive later this year.

“Her legacy is that she left UVA better than the way she found it on many fronts, beyond just Parking and Transportation,” said Andy Mansfield, associate director of Parking and Transportation. “She worked to connect transit services to the larger Charlottesville and local county areas to create opportunities for workers to afford working at UVA, and she managed to train hundreds of student leaders who have arrived and departed UVA Grounds for more than 30 years on the importance of sustainability, planning and how to laugh instead of getting stress lines.”