Assumption College to be Acknowledged as National Example by
U.S. Department of Transportation
Event on Friday, October 1, 1999
12:00 p.m.
Worcester, MA-Tomorrow Assumption College will formally be recognized as a national example of how to use transportation issues and concern for the environment to establish partnerships within the community and to broaden our schools curriculums.
As announced last month, Assumption College has established a University Transportation Center (UTC)---the Center for Transportation and Environmental Education for the Twenty-first Century. This Center will be acknowledged by the U.S. Department of Transportation at a luncheon on Friday, October 1, from Noon-1:30 p.m., in the Hagan Campus Center Hall. This event will serve as the kick-off for a two-day celebration highlighting Worcester's historic role as the Northern Gateway of the Blackstone River Valley.
The College's federally-funded UTC is only the second university transportation center in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and first one in the country to incorporate transportation and environmental issues into an education and science curricula for training future K-12 teachers. One of its charges is to establish partnerships as it is doing with the Worcester Historical Museum and the Blackstone River Valley National Corridor Commission
Friday's luncheon will feature Ms. Kelley Coyner, Administrator for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Research and Special Programs Administration as well as a video presentation by Congressman James McGovern (D-MA). In addition, Dr. Deirdre J. Loughlin, Supervisor of Staff and Program Development for Worcester Public Schools, will speak, and Dr. Charles Estus, director of the UTC and Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Assumption College, will be Master of Ceremonies.
About Assumption College's UTC, Congressman McGovern says:
"America's highway infrastructure has rightfully been a source of great national pride and a symbol of prosperity and growth for the last fifty years. However, five decades of reflection have exposed the woeful inadequacies with our reliance on the automobile. Fossil fuel emissions pollute the air. Traffic congestion wastes hours every day that we could be spending with our families. It is becoming increasingly apparent that we can't afford to place development over the environment. We need transportation policy that answers to environmental demands. Assumption's UTC can help form those policies."
Following the UTC's kick-off luncheon at Assumption College there will be a evening affair titled "Celebrating New Beginnings" at Mechanics Hall. This event will begin at 5:30 p.m. with remarks and presentations made by Worcester City Officials, The Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission, The Heritage Harbor Museum and Assumption College. The presentations will include the "Pawtucket Experience," "the Woonsocket Story" and "Worcester's Role."
On Saturday, October 2, 1999, The UTC will host its first of a conference series regarding transportation issues and this environmental focusing on the Quinsigimond Village Area of Worcester. A highlight of the conference, which will be at the Quinsigimond Elementary School, will be a progressive brunch through the village.