Director's Statement |
|
|
Two major events served to mark the beginning and end of this, our first year. We began with the Center's first conference, a two-day affair on 1, 2 October 1999. Seventy-six representatives of government and non-government organizations gathered at Assumption's Hagan Center for a kick-off luncheon. Secretary Slater was represented by Kelley Coyner, administrator for the Research and Special Programs Administration. In her keynote address Ms. Coyner explored the links between emergent concerns at DOT and the Center's theme, Transportation and Environmental Education for the Twenty-First Century. |
|
| The luncheon was followed by our first board meeting at which the "Blackstone River Valley as a Teaching and Research Laboratory" was adopted as our first annual theme. That evening well over two hundred persons from the greater Worcester area and downstream in Massachusetts and Rhode Island gathered in Worcester's Mechanics Hall at the joint invitation of the City of Worcester, the Worcester Historical Museum, the John H. Chaffee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission and Assumption's UTC. The evening was spent in examining the historical role and impact of water and surface transportation in the use of the river's watershed with poster and slide presentations. The following morning some sixty persons met in conference at Worcester's Quinsigamond Village School situated at the headwaters of the Blackstone to explore transportation development at the northern end of the river and that development's impact on both the natural and social environments. The result was twofold -the expansion of the Center's partnerships and a broader appreciation for the impact of transportation on the natural, economic and social environments at the northern gateway to the river valley.The second event was the Project Awards Reception held at Assumption on 28 April 2000. Before a gathering of board members, college faculty, government representatives and friends Assumption College president, Tom Plough, presented awards to those teachers, environmentalists and transportation professionals whose project applications had been accepted by our advisory boards. This event was the culmination of our first year's efforts to develop working models of educational, environmental and transportation professional cooperation in introducing issues relating to transportation and the environment into the education of primary and secondary school students. We look forward to our second conference in the Spring of 2001 when these partners in transportation and environmental education gather to present and discuss their results with representatives of our ever-expanding partnerships throughout the Blackstone River Valley and beyond. |
|
|
|
|
|
Through programs of research, education and technology transfer, the University Transportation Center at Assumption Collegeo encourages and supports partnerships between primary and secondary teachers, environmentalists and transportation professionals in the development of ways to introduce students (K-12) to the interactions between transport and the environment as part of their math, science and social studies curricula.o supports the development of education and science curricula that incorporate its theme for use in training future teachers as well as in courses of study in continuing and graduate education.o serves as a national clearing house for curricular resources that incorporate the interaction between transportation and the environment for use in the education of our nation's youth. |
|
Last updated:
August 20, 2003
Web site designed by SFI
Multimedia