Newspaper for Students Transforms Image of Careers in Transportation

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Since it was launched, Transportation Today WI has transformed career and technical education (CTE) programs across Wisconsin into desired destinations, not just a place where some students end up, according to publisher, Renée Feight. This change is, in part, because the newspaper written for students brings awareness of great career prospects in transportation to the classroom. Feight and Larry Werner, publishers of the Transportation Today WI newspaper are excited about all things transportation. The publication was added as a special publication of its parent publication, Teaching Today WI, in 2010. Read more

Industry Leader Grailing Jones Helps Raise Awareness of Transportation Career Possibilities

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Instead of sitting at his desk and emailing potential collaborators, Grailing Jones, Schneider Employment Network Development Director, has traveled around the country to personally meet with interested parties who have aims similar to his. Through these interpersonal interactions, he has reached a diverse array of groups that are involved in recruiting a new wave of workers for the transportation industry.

Jones has been doing all of this in an attempt to address hurdles to gaining new employees in the transportation industry. According to Jones, the biggest problem facing the transportation industry today is the lack of awareness about the positives for those pursuing a career in the field.

“The greatest barrier, to me, is the awareness of possibilities in the industry, and it’s shocking, but people don’t know about the pay rates in the industry either,” Jones said. Read more

WEBINAR RECORDING – Transportation: A Natural Vehicle for Integrated STEM Learning

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July 20, 2016
12:30 p.m. Central

Event Website

Recording Available

Martin Storksdieck, Director of OSU’s Center for Research on Lifelong STEM Learning
Marcia Ferranto, President and CEO, WTS International
Helen A. Blackman, Director, Office of Organizational Culture and Work Life at Volpe, The National Transportation Systems Center
Brett Nicholas, Manager of Community Initiatives at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago (MSI)

The webinar explored STEM learning in programs using a transportation lens through informal educational settings. It built off of the findings from the 2015 National Research Council’s report on productive STEM programs in out-of-school settings.

Careers in Transportation Curriculum Project Develops Pipeline of Students

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Resource Website

The Transportation Careers Curriculum Project provides educators with a series of curriculum units that cover Transportation, Distribution and Logistics (TDL) topics.

The goal of the project is to develop a pipeline of talented students who are interested in careers in the transportation field, and the content provided on the site helps prepare teachers to join this effort. Lessons developed deal with a variety of transportation-related subjects, including the planning, management and movement of people, materials, and goods by a variety of means as well as transportation infrastructure planning and management, logistics services, mobile equipment and facility management. Read more

Video Encourages Young Women to Pursue Engineering

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Resource Website

For National Women in Engineering Day, consulting engineering firm, W-T, asked engineers to submit a video encouraging young women to pursue engineering. According to their YouTube channel, they “never thought our message would reach so many. Thank you to all who helped contribute. We weren’t able to use everyone’s submission for the sake of timing, but please see our Women in Engineering Day 2016 playlist for full videos and additional submissions.”

Labor Department Provides $50.5 Million in Grants for Apprenticeships

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Deadline: September 7, 2016
Grant Website

The United States Department of Labor recently announced the availability of the ApprenticeshipUSA State Expansion Grants, which provides $50.5 million worth of funding to help states expand and diversify apprenticeship opportunities. Read more

APTA Releases National Transit Curriculum

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Resource Website

APTA has released the National Transit Curriculum, which was developed as a semester-long course by an advisory committee comprised of representatives from public transit agencies, private sector firms, educators and trade associations to increase understanding and awareness of the industry. Individual lessons can be adapted for students of all ages, from K-12 to graduate-level courses, or for use in industry presentations.

For more information, read the article in Passenger Transport.

Taking Recruitment on the Road with the High Wage Highway Program

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In an effort to directly reach people who may have never considered a career in trucking, the High Wage Highway program bring new trucks to county fairs, car shows, and car races. The program, put together by non-profit, Northwest Wisconsin CEP, invites men, women and children to climb into trucks to break down the incorrect stereotypes that are commonly associated with careers in the transportation field, according to Northwest Wisconsin CEP, employer resource consultant, Tasha Hagberg.

“The biggest difference with High Wage Highway is that it allows people to envision themselves in the role of a truck driver by climbing inside of the cabs of the new trucks, and getting to see really how beautiful they are and how livable they are,” Hagberg said. Read more

Online Hub Available for Transportation Education Resources

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Clearinghouse launched in May, 2016 provides one-stop-shop for transportation education resources.

Clearinghouse launched in May, 2016 provides one-stop-shop for transportation education resources.

The web-based Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Education Program Clearinghouse provides a consolidated hub of resources, including instructional materials and classroom lesson plans, designed to support, enhance, and promote K-12 STEM and transportation education and outreach nationwide. A one-stop shop for educators, students, parents, and transportation professionals, the clearinghouse is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and spearheaded by Tennessee’s Knox County Schools and the University of Tennessee Center for Transportation Research.

The clearinghouse features a wide variety of transportation-themed STEM instructional materials and other resources that are available for download, in most cases, free of charge. The materials were hand-picked and/or created by STEM experts and K-12 educators nationwide.
Read more

Family-Owned Business Adjusts Hiring Process to Meet Needs of Changing Workforce

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Ozinga, a fourth-generation, family-owned business that provides concrete, materials, energy and logistics solutions, reinvented their hiring process from the ground up starting in 2014 in order to best serve a rapidly changing workforce.

The company, founded in 1928, launched their Born to Build campaign in the spring of 2015, which quickly spread through social media. The original post of the video has already received roughly 3,600 likes, 280 comments, 1,700 shares and nearly 260,000 views. Those numbers continue to grow. Read more