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More than 2,700 students have participated in the National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI) since the program began at 1993. Program aims to diversify industry.
Lincoln University, PA (www.lincoln.edu) — America’s first Historically Black University — will conclude its Summer Transportation Institute (STI) on August 1 with a keynote address from Faye Moore, general manager of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA).
The program will take place on campus at the Thurgood Marshall Living Learning Center from Noon to 2:30 p.m. As general manager, Moore heads one of largest regional public transportation systems in the country.
Lincoln’s STI is a four-week program that began July 6 and officially ends on August 4. The program introduces eighth, ninth and tenth graders in Pennsylvania to the transportation industry. The educational initiative is a partnership between the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Division Office in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), private corporations, and Lincoln University. The Lincoln STI offers participants early exposure to the University, the wide array of careers in transportation, and the opportunity to engage in activities that are educational, socially beneficial and recreational. Lincoln’s STI also provides tuition and campus boarding to participating students.
According to Dr. Ganga P. Ramdas, professor of Business and Economics, and STI project director, the program affords students who have a strong interest in science, math and technology an opportunity to learn about the many aspects of the transportation industry and the interaction between major methods of transportation, transportation safety and the environmental impact of transportation systems. In addition to guest speakers from the transportation industry who have participated in this year’s program, students have taken a number of field trips to get a hands-on view of the transportation industry.
These trips have included visits and tours of the Railroad Museum, Harrisburg, Pa., the PennDOT construction site in King of Prussia, Pa., Philadelphia International Airport, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority, the Philadelphia Naval Base, and the Sunoco Gas and Pipelines in Reading, Pa.
Lincoln is one of 42 universities across the country that participates in the National Summer Transportation Institute (NSTI) pilot that partners state transportation agencies, the USDOT and the FHWA to help diversify the transportation workforce. To date, more than 2,700 students have participated in the NSTI since the program began at South Carolina State University in 1993.
Lincoln University is in the midst of a yearlong celebration of its sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary and will present a number of special events during this period to commemorate the milestone. Among the upcoming special activities will be the presentation of grand galas in four major U.S. cities: Philadelphia, New York City, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. The Philadelphia gala will be held on October 24 at the Wyndham Philadelphia at Franklin Plaza.
Founded in 1854, Lincoln University provides the best elements of a liberal arts and sciences-based undergraduate core curriculum and selected graduate programs to meet the needs of students living in a highly technological and global society. Lincoln has the unprecedented distinction among all colleges and universities of having two of its alumni—Thurgood Marshall ’30, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, and Langston Hughes, a world-acclaimed poet—honored with U.S. commemorative stamps in 2002 and 2003, respectively.