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Center for Professional Development

Description

The Center for Professional Development educates current and future leaders of the transportation profession, transfers technology, and fosters research that incorporates technology transfer and research implementation. Our success depends on our ability to recognize and respond to new challenges and changing technologies, and to find the appropriate balance between our traditional strengths, the need for new ideas and directions, and limited resources.

Mission

The mission of the Center for Professional Development is to foster and enhance the development of knowledge, skills, and abilities of existing and future transportation professionals to ensure the success of the transportation industry both now and in the future, by providing quality leadership, education, technology transfer, and research implementation.

The necessary achievements required to support the center's mission are identified as objectives, which provide a reference to appraise performance and decisions. The Center's objectives are broken down into the following:

  • Education,
  • Technology Transfer,
  • Research, and
  • Leadership.

Expertise

Researchers in the Center for Professional Development have expertise in the following areas:

  • transportation engineering education,
  • distance learning,
  • career guidance,
  • traffic operations,
  • traffic safety,
  • commercial vehicle safety and operations,
  • hazardous materials incident management,
  • technology transfer and dissemination, and
  • development of classroom materials.

Research Initiatives

The Center for Professional Development conducts various initiatives aimed at workforce development and continuing education.

The Texas Summer Transportation Institute (TSTI) is one of the center's most visible and ambitious workforce development initiatives. Led by the vision and operational support of the Texas Transportation Institute, Prairie View A&M University, Texas Southern University at Houston, Palo Alto College, Texas A&M—Kingsville, and Paul Quinn College, TSTI has developed and presented summer programs for high school students since 1999. With a grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and funded by a joint public-private partnership, TSTI addresses transportation workforce needs, specifically the shortage of students pursuing careers in engineering and technology.

The center continuously develops and presents a variety of professional development workshops and seminars on a number of technical topics aimed at educating those in the transportation profession. The center has the ability to hold workshops on an "as-needed" basis for any potential client. The center also periodically presents web-based Internet conferencing seminars (commonly called webinars) covering a wide range of transportation-related topics. These webinars are typically one to two hours in length and can be attended by anyone with a high-speed Internet connection and a phone.

Teacher Resources

The center has developed various educational resources to be used by faculty, teachers, homeschoolers, students, or anyone else interested in learning more about transportation engineering and the transportation profession:

  • Brochures focusing on various transportation careers,
  • Transportation images that can be used in presentations or publications,
  • Presentations for use in classrooms or for other educational purposes,
  • Printed materials for use in the classroom, and
  • Videos available for use in the classroom.

Continuing Education

The center also develops and presents educational opportunities for transportation professionals through:

Cooperative Relationships/Sponsors

The Center for Professional Development has cooperative relationships with the following sponsors:

  • The Texas Department of Transportation,
  • National Highway Institute,
  • Institute of Transportation Engineers, and
  • Federal Highway Administration.

For More Information

Gary Thomas
Gibb Gilchrist Building, Room 140
TTI/Center for Professional Development
Texas A&M University System
3135 TAMU
College Station, TX 77843-3135
ph. (979) 845-9898 · fax (979) 845-9873
g-thomas@tamu.edu

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