The New Professionalism: Theory and Practice
MNPS 700.5P2 – Fall ’01
Introduction to Transportation Policy, Operations & Logistics
SYLLABUS
Basic Course Information
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Time: |
Thursday, 4:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. |
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Locations: |
1. GMU Arlington Campus, rm. 303 “Old Building” 2. SW Center, Abingdon, via interactive TV 3. VDOT Richmond, via interactive TV 4. VDOT Blacksburg, via interactive TV |
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Instructor: |
Jonathan L. Gifford |
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Telephone |
703-993-2275 |
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Fax: |
801-749-9198 |
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E-mail: |
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Office hours: |
Arlington “O,” rm. 266, Generally Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. An appointment is strongly recommended if you’re making a special trip. |
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Section: |
5P2 (call number 05747) |
Course Description
This course is about transportation systems. It examines their history and development, their contribution to and impact on society, the institutions and practices that govern their planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and—sometimes—retirement from service, the policy and managerial challenges that they pose, and the tools and techniques available for addressing them.
Transportation is a service that contributes substantially to the well being of advanced economies. Personal mobility, whether by bicycle, car, bus, or aircraft, occupies a significant part of almost every citizen’s day. And virtually all household goods—furniture, food, appliances and clothing—are the result of often complex chains of supply, production and distribution in which transportation plays a critical part.
The resource requirements and byproducts of transportation also pose sobering environmental challenges for society. Landscape, noise, energy dependence, air and water quality, and perhaps even global climate are all profoundly affected by society’s choices about transportation. The safety and security of the transportation system is also tremendously important to quality of life and economic efficiency.
Requirements
The requirements for the course are 2 papers (15% and 25% of the final grade, respectively), 2 critiques (20% each), an in-class presentation on one week’s readings (10%), and class participation (10%).
Paper No. 1 – System Description and Evaluation (15% of grade)
Complete a “Transportation Policy, Operations or Logistics Description and Evaluation,” approximately 500 words in length, plus appendices if desired (due in week 5), describing and evaluating a transportation activity with which you are familiar. Your description and evaluation should take a systems perspectives, that is, it should not be simply a “user’s eye” view of the activity but rather synoptic or societal. You should clearly state the evaluation criteria you are using. It should generally focus on the activities of one organization, for example, VDOT’s traffic sign management.
You should utilize any of Sussman’s “Key Points” that are germane. Also, your paper should be objective, examining both the pros and cons of any point of view expressed, and clearly state the criteria being used to evaluate the system. Source material and evidence should be cited. Note the general guidelines for papers below.
Paper No. 2 (25%)
Write a 2000- to 2500-word paper about a problem or issue of your choice related to transportation policy, operations or logistics, due in week 12. You should carefully identify and cite source material. You will probably need to rely on a wide range of sources, including subject area experts, industry and trade publications, and promotional and marketing materials by vendors. Some of these may be from the Internet. Note the general paper guidelines below.
Two Critiques (20% each)
You are required to submit critiques of the assigned readings for two weekly meetings of your choice. These critiques should be brief essays, about 750 words in length, which briefly summarize the assigned readings and then give your assessment of them. Roughly speaking, about half of the essay should be dedicated to summarizing the major points of the assigned readings. The balance of the essay would contain your assessment, which should consist of your judgment or interpretation of the significance of the readings, addressing how they relate to the broader themes of the course.
Presentation (10%)
Present a critique of the readings for one week as part of a class discussion of the material.
Class Participation (10%)
Participate in class discussions demonstrating command of assigned material and the ability to relate the concepts to other transportation issues.
Note: Students who are unable to attend classes during which graded work is to be submitted or presented will be asked to provide appropriate documentation of the reason for their absence.
Resubmitting Papers
Students may resubmit papers to be re-graded, subject to the following conditions.
1) Resubmissions are accepted up to 1 week after papers are returned
2) Must …
a) … be a substantive rewrite; papers should have been grammatically correct the first time.
b) … visit (virtually or in person) the Writing Center for a review of the paper (http://writingcenter.gmu.edu).
c) … include a writer’s memo discussing how the paper is improved, and why it’s worth my time to reread it. This needn’t be more than a page.
d) … include the original submission.
3) You may also include additional revisions of papers from the semester in an end-of-semester portfolio, which must be submitted in week 14, the last class. The same rules apply regarding the writer’s memo and including earlier submissions.
Text Materials
There are two principal textbooks:
- Sussman, J. (2000) Introduction to Transportation Systems (Boston, Artech House).
- Meyer, J. R., Gómez-Ibánez, J. A., Tye, W. B. & Winston, C. (1999) Essays in Transportation Economics and Policy: A Handbook in Honor of John R. Meyer (Washington, D.C., Brookings Institution Press).
Additional readings will be available in photocopy or through the university’s electronic reserves system. (http://oscr.gmu.edu/).
Instructor
The course instructor is Jonathan L. Gifford, who is the Director of the M.S. Professional Studies in Transportation Policy, Operations & Logistics in the School of Public Policy and an associate professor of public management and policy in the Department of Public & International Affairs at George Mason University. He is an authority on transportation and infrastructure policy, with particular expertise in the areas of ITS, highway policy, urban transportation planning, airport and air traffic control policy, and the development of technical standards. He is the author of more than thirty articles and the author or editor of four books.
Recent research areas include: technical standard setting through consortia; policy objectives and general requirements for deploying signal preemption and priority systems in the greater Washington, D.C. region; improving public acceptance of infrastructure projects; lessons from institutional restructuring in electric power, telecommunications, highways and air traffic control; and smart card technology for licensing commercial drivers.
He earned his B.S. in civil engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering (transportation) from the University of California, Berkeley, with minor fields in economics and urban and regional planning. His dissertation analyzed the development and impacts of the Interstate highway system.
General Paper Guidelines
1) You cannot use a paper from another course without explicit instructor approval.
2) Paper Length. Word counts specified for papers are exclusive of footnotes, endnotes, or appendix material. Please note the word count on the cover page.
3) Papers must be typed.
4) Papers should have a cover page, but do not put papers in covers, binders or any other kind of package.
5) No late assignments will be accepted without the instructor’s prior approval.
6) Papers with unacceptable errors in spelling and grammar will be returned for correction prior to grading and penalized 5 points per day until turned back in correctly.
7)
The instructor may ask to review your source
material. Do not discard it for at least a month after your final paper is
turned in.
8)
Plagiarism. Be careful and systematic in the way you
quote and credit source material in order to avoid plagiarism, which may result
in Honor Code violations.
9) Finding and evaluating source material. Remember that some sources are more credible than others, and it’s up to you the researcher to evaluate the credibility of a source and the particular facts, ideas or positions it advances. All sources are not created equal!
10) Style
a)
The term “style” refers to the way a paper treats
headings, footnotes, bibliographic citations, illustrations, tables, etc. In
professional writing, it is important to be aware of style and to follow the
appropriate style guidelines for what you are writing. You should choose and
adhere to a particular style.
b) In addition, papers for this course require the following: (i) identify your sources in footnotes; (ii) include source information for all figures and tables; (iii) include a bibliography of all source material at the end of your paper.
c) For the citation of e-mail messages, World Wide Web sites, and other items on the Internet, follow the format specified in “Beyond the MLA Handbook: Documenting Electronic Sources on the Internet” <http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/1.2/inbox/mla_archive.html> (June 10, 1996).
11) Grading criteria (approximate)
a) Technical content: 65%.
b) Writing quality: 25%.
c) Style and appearance: 10%