Education
The Transportation Leadership Graduate Certificate Program
The NEXTRANS Center has undertaken an initiative with other Regional University Transportation Centers to participate in the Transportation Leadership Graduate Certificate (TLGC) Program. This program provides a unique opportunity for practicing professionals and post-baccalaureate students to gain access to an exciting range of graduate-level, transportation courses taught by leading faculty at some of the nation's premier universities.
Two decades of workshops, conferences, research and published studies have all resulted in common themes concerning transportation education and workforce development. Individuals having a bachelor's degree or even a master's degree must continue their education to move from technical to management to leadership roles in both the public and private sectors. Seasoned professionals are retiring, and recent graduates are being hired to "re-populate" the transportation workforce. Numerous studies have clearly proven that there is a growing knowledge gap between newer technical professionals with limited experience and senior level management professionals and industry leaders. A synthesis of the research to date has concluded that the competencies to be stressed in an education program beyond the Bachelor's degree level for both the public and private sector transportation leaders of the future must include:
- An understanding of the "big picture" in areas such as multi-modal transportation systems integration and supply chain management
- The role of the political process in transportation decision making
- Organizational and management principles
- Systems engineering principles
- Operations research principles
- Transportation finance
- The role of technology applications
- Conflict resolution among competing interests
- Social, environmental, and economic considerations
The Transportation Leadership Graduate Certificate program is a nationally supported concept to provide graduate-level education to prepare the future leaders of the transportation industry. Its educational theme is transportation policy, management and operations. The main features of this program include four theme-related graduate level courses taken for credit; a wide range of courses included in the curriculum to provide breadth of knowledge for future leaders in topics, such as policy, systems engineering, planning, operations, safety, security, finance; courses delivered nationally by well-accepted distance learning media; and courses taught by graduate faculty from outstanding universities. The product of this enterprise is a prestigious, unique certificate that is recognized and endorsed by both public sector and private sector industry leaders.
For more information on the TLGC Program, download and PDF below and visit http://www.transleader.org for an opportunity to enroll in courses at some of the countries finest graduate transportation programs.
