{"id":276,"date":"2017-05-16T20:56:30","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T20:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ajhassoc.com\/?p=276"},"modified":"2017-05-19T13:50:28","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T13:50:28","slug":"in-praise-of-a-blue-collar-transportation-engineering-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ajhassoc.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/16\/in-praise-of-a-blue-collar-transportation-engineering-education\/","title":{"rendered":"In Praise of a Blue-Collar Transportation Engineering Education"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

At a reception at the TRB annual meeting a few years ago I ran into Sue Langdon, one of my former students, and we talked for a while about the remarkable accomplishments of those students who graduated from the University of Wisconsin \u2013 Milwaukee with a specialization in transportation engineering.\u00a0 Sue suggested that it\u2019s a blue-collar attitude that explains her and people she knew from our program.\u00a0 Bob Gutierrez\u2019s story<\/a> is not all that unusual.\u00a0 A recent award winner, he is leading one of the largest civil engineering projects in the US.\u00a0 He is a first-generation college graduate, like so many others that I have met.<\/p>\n

Our transportation engineering grads have reached the highest levels in their profession:\u00a0 Company presidents\/CEOs, state DOT secretaries, directors of public works, city engineers, and people with exceptional technical abilities and accomplishments. \u00a0Beyond a love of transportation engineering, these people share one trait \u2013 they get the job done.<\/p>\n

UWM changed greatly during my time there.\u00a0 It is now a Carnegie Doctoral Research 1 institution and a \u201cdestination\u201d university.\u00a0 In my early career it was a school of necessity \u2013 someplace affordable, local and without a hint of prestige.\u00a0 The physical campus was cramped and in shambles.\u00a0 UWM was and is still chronically underfunded.\u00a0 The average state budget per student, compared with UW-Madison (\u201cWisconsin\u201d to football fans), is honestly shameful.\u00a0 So how did our program find amazing outcomes with meager resources?\u00a0 Working hard and working smart, mostly.<\/p>\n

We set academic standards equivalent to the better universities; we hired the best faculty we could convince to come to Milwaukee; we instilled a sense of teamwork that included all faculty, academic staff and support staff; and we fretted over every academic decision and every penny spent.<\/p>\n

We lost many a student along the way who couldn\u2019t hack it, but this is not too unusual for engineering programs around the country.\u00a0 Those that succeeded did so by force of will.\u00a0 There was an occasional, truly gifted student who appeared to glide through the curriculum, but most students struggled to achieve academic excellence while taking on part-time or full-time jobs to support themselves and their families.\u00a0 I would guess that a majority of my students graduated with relevant work experience, making them very attractive to prospective employers.<\/p>\n

I had occasional conversations with Ed Beimborn, my colleague over many years, as to whether these graduates would have fared better had they attended a well-funded and famous engineering program.\u00a0 Our conclusion was \u201cno\u201d.\u00a0 We are not in denial.\u00a0 A highly motivated young person can achieve admirable goals anywhere that will let them.\u00a0 One of our most important strategies is to break down barriers to knowledge.\u00a0 When students have access, they can learn.\u00a0 I often described my teaching as being 50% imparting technical material and 50% motivating.<\/p>\n

Our students were great to teach, not because they had IQ\u2019s that rivaled kids at MIT or CalTech (they mostly didn\u2019t), but because they were grasping onto the one chance for big success in their lives, and they were determined to make the most of it.<\/p>\n

One of my memorable students was Tim Diebels, who was initially an utter bust at UWM.\u00a0 He took my Statics course very early in my tenure at UWM, attending class rarely and failing every exam gloriously.\u00a0 I gave him an F with great delight.\u00a0 He flunked-out and disappeared.\u00a0 About two years later his wife, Christine, showed up as a student in one of my classes.\u00a0 She had an engaging personality, and it wasn\u2019t long before our conversations got around to Tim\u2019s future.\u00a0 I told her to encourage Tim to try again.\u00a0 Tim had by then served his time away from the program, got readmitted and became my advisee.\u00a0 Instead of racking up F\u2019s, Tim racked up A\u2019s.\u00a0 He graduated and went to work at WisDOT where he quickly became their EIS guru.\u00a0 He was on a fast track to top management at WisDOT when he was sadly cut down by poor health at the age of 37.\u00a0 Tim remains one of my prime examples of what can happen with a change of attitude and the right support network.<\/p>\n

A blue-collar education is a bargain for our citizens, and I hope UWM personnel and its alumni never lose those proverbial chips on their shoulders, despite their successes.<\/p>\n

Alan Horowitz, Whitefish Bay, May 16, 2017 (lightly edited, May 19, 2017)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

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