Historic Spelman College a perfect partner for women in transportation program

On Monday, I had a really productive day in Atlanta. I've already blogged about 2 of the events, but, at the risk of overexposing this great city, I'd like to add a third--at Spelman College, we announced a new program designed to get more women into transportation careers.

I think transportation is one of the most challenging and exciting industries in the country right now. And we’d love to see the women at Spelman and other colleges, high schools, or universities around the country become our transportation leaders for the 21st century and come work in the industry or at DOT.

So, Spelman and DOT are jointly managing the Pilot Entrepreneurial Training and Technical Assistance Women and Girls Program, created to encourage girls to pursue careers in science, engineering, and technology and help women in the field to achieve their goals.

We’d like more women to become air traffic controllers, highway engineers, transportation researchers, and safety planners-–to name just a few. These kinds of jobs are challenging; they pay well; and we think there's no reason women shouldn't find them very rewarding.

The partnership will create an internship and mentoring program to bring more female students into transportation-related careers and help them gain experience. And, through our Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, it will also help small, women-owned transportation companies complete for DOT contracts, and make sure they get the technical and finance assistance they need to succeed.

Now, Spelman College has long been a renowned institution, with quite a strong legacy, and I think the program is in pretty safe hands. This program is part of a broader effort, led by the White House, to ensure that federal programs and policies take into account the distinct needs and concerns of women and girls. So who better to partner with than a college that has been successfully educating young women since 1881.

It's true: women have not always been as well represented in transportation as we’d like. The good news is we’re working to change that.

Comments

[Michael E. Bailey]

This sounds like it will have benefits for all of the transportation industries that make up our transporation system. Its great that DOT is reaching out to underrepresented people including women. It will make the agency and transportation industry more representative and stronger. But at the same time DOT is doing this, OCTA is laying off more than 100 bus drivers and mechanics including a number who are women and minorities. And more layoffs will be coming in March when bus service hours are supposed to be cut anothe 300,000. There is one more thing that DOT might do to increase the number of women in maritime transportation roles. More should be done to increase the number of women who go to and graduate from the U.S. and different state Merchant Marine academies. Many U.S. flag shipping line officials, longshoring company executives, port managers, shipyard executives and managers, and other officials like the executives of harbor tugboat companies got their basic maritime education from one of the maritime academies. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[Stella Bonaparte]

I think this is great. I am interested in transportation planning, particularly bike/ped planning and I hope to go to grad school at Rutgers- Bloustein School. Are there any broader initiatives, such as grants for women? Thanks.

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At the same time DOT is doing this, OCTA is laying off more than 100 bus drivers and mechanics including a number who are women and minorities.