A Unique Partnership for a Graduate Education Certificate Program

1. A Unique Partnership for a Graduate Education Certificate Program Transportation Policy, Management and Operations (ITS America Annual Meeting, June 4, 2007)

2. PROGRAM PURPOSE A University Based, Graduate Education Certificate Program Designed to "Educate the Transportation Leaders of the 21st Century"

3. TARGET AUDIENCE • Existing, early-to-mid career transportation professionals • Employees of both public and private sectors • Potential leaders • Professionals from other supporting disciplines

4. WHY IS THIS PROGRAM UNIQUE? • Relies on a distance learning partnership • Curriculum developed and courses certified by a consortium of universities and users • Each course presented by individual university and instructor • Students can select courses from multiple universities • Audience identified through a consortium of organizations • Certificates presented by Regional Universities Transportation Centers Board of Directors, and endorsed by public/private sector

5. OTHER UNIQUE PROGRAM ELEMENTS • Non-degree program more accessible to more people, at more Universities, without going through formal admission process • Fills educational gap between completed undergraduate degree and formal graduate education programs • Encourages professionals to "test-the- waters" of graduate education

6. OTHER UNIQUE PROGRAM ELEMENTS (cont.) • Individual University can broaden its curriculum and courses offered to an expanded audience • Leverages available resources and faculty across multiple universities • Certificate will be viewed as unique, prestigious and achievable • Provides name recognition, nationally and internationally

7. OTHER UNIQUE PROGRAM ELEMENTS (cont.) • Attracts more attention to graduate education • Completed courses could be eligible for transfer to a formal graduate degree program • Will not compete with existing programs; rather, it will help to expand and enhance

8. NEED AND DEMAND VERIFIED • Extensive and continuing research and studies document both need and demand • Viewed as an essential element to assist in meeting critical workforce needs and shortage of professionals • Acceptance of interactive, Distance Learning media is well documented

9. FOUNDATION FOR THE CURRICULUM • Competencies required to educate future Transportation Leaders beyond the Bachelor's Degree must include: • Understanding the "Big Picture" in areas such as: multimodal transportation systems integration and logistics and supply chain management • The role of the political process in transportation decision making • Organizational and Management Principles • Technology Applications • Systems Engineering Principles

10. CERTIFICATE PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS • Four curriculum courses required to obtain the Certificate • Draft Curriculum currently under development, consisting of: • Five Core Courses, two of which must be selected • Six Electives which cover a variety of theme-related topics • Each course taken for credit, requiring a grade of "B" or better

11. THE CORE COURSES • Transportation Policy and Planning • Transportation Systems Analysis • Transportation Economics • Transportation Operations and Safety • Transportation Management

12. THE ELECTIVES • Freight Logistics • Project Management • Advanced Modeling Techniques • Infrastructure Management • Technology Management • Multi-modal Focus

13. MULTI-MODAL FOCUS • Potential modules or topics • Transit Planning and Operations • Airport Planning and Operations • Waterport Planning and Operations • Bikeways and Pedestrian Planning and Operations • Rail Freight and Passenger Planning and Operations

14. COURSE DELIVERY AND CONTENT • Delivered via interactive, easily available Distance Learning media • The topics to be included in courses have been outlined • Review underway, to be finalized by mid-June • The Universities will identify existing courses that incorporate those topics and faculty to teach them • Some new or modified courses may be required • Some existing courses may be modified for distance learning delivery

15. ORGANIZATION TO IMPLEMENT PROGRAM • Being developed as a National Priority by the Nation's RUTC's; Lead Universities - Founding Members include: • New England UTC at MIT • University Transportation Research Center at CUNY • Mid-Atlantic Universities Transportation Center at Penn State University • Southeastern Transportation Center at the U. of Tennessee Continued on next slide

16. RUTC UNIVERSITIES & FOUNDING MEMBERS (continued) • Midwest Regional University Transportation Center at U. of Wisconsin • NEXTRANS Center at Purdue U. • Southwest Region UTC at TX A&M / TTI • Midwest Transportation Center at Iowa State U. • Mid-America Transportation Center at the U. of Nebraska-Lincoln • Mountains Plains Consortium at N.D. State U. • Transportation Northwest (TransNow) at U. of Washington

17. PARTICIPATION BY OTHER UNIVERSITIES • Each of the lead Universities have established their own consortium of member Universities • Informal MOU commits the Founding Members to cooperate • To be INCLUSIVE, NOT EXCLUSIVE Enterprise • Membership will be available to other CUTC members

18. LEADERSHIP TEAM • The 12 RUTC Directors serve as the Program's Board of Directors • Board Chairman: Denver Tolliver, N.D. State U. • Curriculum Committee Chair: Martin Pietrucha, PA State University • Distance Learning Delivery Media Committee Chair: John Mason, PA State University • Finance Committee Chair: Dock Burke, TX A&M University / TTI • Consultant to Committee: Tom Humphrey, Retired Director of the NE UTC Program

19. ADVISORY COMMITTEE • Training Organizations' Members • NHI / FHWA • NTI / FTA • Associations' Members • AASHTO, ITE, APTA, APWA, ASCE, AMPO • State DOT Members: NY DOT, CALTRANS • Consulting Firms • University Members • PA STATE U, NDSU, UMD, CUNY, GMU

20. MARKETING THE PROGRAM • Coordinated effort established; commitments made by the Universities • Associations, public and private sector organizations to widely market the program • Many members of Advisory Committee have committed to identify and urge employees and members to pursue Certificate • Formal marketing strategy still to be established and implemented

21. FUNDING THE PROGRAM • Academic program will be self-sustaining • Students will pay tuition directly to the Universities offering the course(s) • Supporting organizations have committed to provide education / tuition support for employees and members • Central Administration at Texas A&M funded by the participating Universities

22. WIN-WIN-WIN ENTERPRISE • For students: • Unprecedented opportunity to expand breadth and depth of knowledge • Graduate courses taken for credit at place of employment or home, from some of the best university faculty in the nation • Prepares individuals to move from 1) technical contributions, to 2) management responsibilities and eventually to 3) leadership roles

23. WIN-WIN-WIN ENTERPRISE (cont.) • For the Universities: • Provides the motivation and a vehicle to greatly increase the number of tuition-paying students who enroll in graduate courses • Provides more incentives for students to continue to graduate education • Potential for attracting new, young faculty to Transportation

24. WIN-WIN-WIN ENTERPRISE (cont.) • For the Transportation Associations & Transportation Community: • An important opportunity to help address a well documented and understood need to increase the supply of professionals • Fully consistent with their Strategic Plans • Offers potential to increase the numbers of new members

25. SCHEDULED NEXT STEPS • Meeting of the RUTC Directors & Curriculum Committee on 6/13/07 in Madison, WI to finalize course outlines • Each RUTC Consortium University Member to provide information on available courses and faculty • Selection of courses for inclusion in the Curriculum • Finalize administrative and curriculum details

26. SCHEDULED NEXT STEPS (cont.) • Set a date for first course offerings • Implement marketing strategies • Sign on the students • Start the Program

27. COMMENTS WELCOMED • Please provide us with your questions, reactions, concerns and suggestions for making this an outstanding program • Thomas Humphrey (tfhumphrey@rcn.com) • Mark Norman (mnorman@nas.edu)