M ANAGING C ENTER S UCCESS Student Internships Their Workforce Development Potential Matt Carter Delaware T 2 /LTAP Center National LTAP-TTAP Conference 2013 Boise, Idaho

W ORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT One of LTAP Program’s “Four Focus Areas” Too often overlooked? Goals Development of the workforce of tomorrow Attract the best and brightest to the transportation field But also…attract the most energetic, the most innovative Get students excited about a career with us instead of resigned to a job with another field Safety Infrastructure Management Workforce Development Organizational Excellence

D ELAWARE ’ S RECENT EXPERIENCE Seeing increase in meaningful internships Public and private Students return with clear perspectives They may love it The company/agency The industry sector (consulting, DOT, construction, etc.) They may hate it But they know how they feel about it They can make better career choices as a result More often than not – their interest in transportation is strengthened

S OME EXAMPLES QA/QC Inspector

S OME EXAMPLES Traffic studies

S OME EXAMPLES Asset inventory/management

S OME EXAMPLES Asset inventory/management

O THER EXAMPLES Pavement distress evaluations Small structure inspector Planning studies

O UR ROLES Direct We champion internships We use Center funds (if we have them) or grants We hire directly We provide technical oversight We provide equipment and training Indirect We help towns/companies/agencies interview/hire Technical oversight here sometimes Feedback We quiz students in the fall What’d you do, how’d you like it?

F UNDING LTAP Center Local agencies Private companies Joint/pooled funding Grants/programs/fellowships Example 12 week summer schedule 40 hours/week $12/hour $5,760 upper budget amount for summer; typ. less

NLTAPA’ S ROLE Can’t 58 Centers working together be more effective than each on our own? A national posting on the forums? An intern job board of sorts? Some other means of sharing ideas, case studies?