Expanding Transportation Education Across the Academy and Catalyzing Community Change in the Process: The University of Oregon’s Sustainable City Year Program

Abstract

Transportation agencies are grappling with new and unfamiliar issues at a time when the resources necessary to meet them are scarce and many agency staff members are reaching retirement.

At the same time, Universities continue to attract a new generation of students who are not only comfortable and familiar with these new concepts but are eager for a workplace that embraces this multidisciplinary environment.

Each year, the University of Oregon’s Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP) works with a single city and connects 25–30 courses across 10–12 disciplines, 500+ students, and 60,000+ hours of effort to community projects identified by city staff. This talk will provide additional details of the educational model, explain how the model works and lay out why it represents a way to modernize higher education to meet our changing transportation challenges.

Sponsored by: Research and Innovative Technology Administration, University Transportation Centers Program

DISCLAIMER: The views of the presenter do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Transportation. For more information, contact Denise E. Dunn at denise.e.dunn@dot.gov.