Summer Transportation Institutes: Increasing Diversity Through Partnerships

In partnership with the Upward Bound Program (UB) at the University of Vermont (UVM), which is funded by the US Department of Education, the UVM Transportation Research Center (TRC) served as the coordinating and hosting entity for the 2008 Summer Transportation Institute (STI), funded by Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). 20 high school students from Greater Burlington, Vermont (population 140,000 in a state of 620,000) participated in this four week residential program. All students stayed on campus Sunday – Thursday nights and returned home for the weekend. Participation in the program was free. Ten of these students were English as a Second Language (ESL) students. For some of these students English was their third or fourth language. 80% were not born in the United States and represented eight different countries. They ranged in age from 14 to 18 years. 90% were non-white, non-native born and 75% were female. Reaching underserved and underrepresented communities is a key goal of workforce development initiatives broadly within the United States Department of Transportation (US DOT). The partnership with UB, the inclusion of a large percentage of ESL students and using the Young Writers Project (YWP) and its on-line writing element enabled a more diverse group of students to participate in the STI. It is these partnerships that enabled the STI to serve a diverse student population. The objectives of the STI and UB program are twofold: First, to expose students to career opportunities within the transportation industry and, second, to provide students with a college experience.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Glitman, Karen
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2009-1-11 to 2009-1-15
• Date: 2009

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: DVD
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 15p
• Monograph Title: TRB 88th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Education and training; High school students; Partnerships; Research; Social diversity; Transportation; Transportation planning
• Identifier Terms: Summer Transportation Institute
• Geographic Terms: Vermont
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Education and Training; Research; Transportation (General); I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01128852
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 09-1904
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: May 19 2009 7:49AM