The nation's Regional University Transportation Centers including UTRC, in consultation and cooperation with leaders from the National Academy of Sciences (TRB), public and private sectors and transportation related Associations, are developing a distance learning based Graduate Education Certificate program to assist in educating the transportation leaders of the 21st Century. Its purpose is to provide breadth of knowledge and a more comprehensive understanding of the issues required to deal with multi-modal transportation challenges in a complex world. In addition, it will assist in making a significant contribution in helping to enhance the profession by expanding the pool of new professionals with essential competencies.

The program's objective is to nurture those individuals with potential leadership qualities in both the public and private sectors and to assist them in moving along the promotion track from excellent technical contributions to management responsibilities and eventually on to leadership roles.

The theme of the program is “Transportation Policy, Management and Operations”. The Certificate requires the completion of four theme related graduate courses taught by graduate faculty at some of the nation's outstanding universities. All courses will be taken by distance learning media from an individual's home or place of employment. The courses incorporate all modes of transportation and include topics such as transportation systems, policy, planning, operations, economics, safety and security, social and environmental considerations, program management, environmental and climate change, and future technologies.

The product of this program will be the award of a prestigious Certificate endorsed by U.S. Department of Transportation and leading public and private sector organizations. Completed courses will also be eligible for transfer towards a graduate degree. NTI has participated in the advisory group that helped to establish this program.

This is only a very brief thumbnail sketch of a very exciting opportunity available not only to individuals currently engaged in multi-modal transportation activities, but also those with supporting skills in other related professions. If this sounds interesting to you, please take a few moments to review the attached program summary. Then see more details and learn more about the opportunities at the program's website found at http://www.transleader.org/.