SMART

The 2010-2013 collective bargaining agreement between the University and the Lecturers’ Employee Organization (LEO) calls for the creation of a Professional Development Fund (the “Fund”) for LEO Lecturers on the Ann Arbor campus. Awards of up to $550 are available to eligible Lecturers each academic year. The purpose of the Fund is to encourage creativity through the support of Lecturer professional development by providing grants in support of activities that enhance Lecturers’ teaching at the University of Michigan; the Fund is not intended to provide a salary supplement to the Lecturer.

For more information, see http://hr.umich.edu/acadhr/contracts/toolbox/ahrnews.html

Author: Patrick Lydon

Earlier this month, I wrote a piece about how Rush Hour can Save you Money, it compared a typical Silicon Valley commute using a car, and the same commute using a bicycle. At the end of the article, a breakdown of costs was provided.

A Twitter re-posting in several different languages followed the article, and many readers found it compelling proof that you don’t need to completely replace your car with a bicycle in order to see immense benefits. Part-time bicycle commuters come away all the better through increased health and cost-savings.

Read the full article at http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/pmlydon/34289/does-car-bike-good-thing

A major European project aimed at delivering green traffic management systems in European cities and towns will be officially launched today (January 18) at the National Space Centre in Leicester, UK. The three-year project, known as ‘THE ISSUE’ (Transport Health Environment – Intelligent Solutions Sustaining Urban Economies), will support scientists, engineers and development agencies from several different European regions to work together, using the latest space and information technologies, to develop more effective methods of easing road congestion and improving the urban environment. It is hoped that the final research outcomes will be used to influence future policy and the implementation of traffic management systems that benefit public health and safety.

Read the full story at http://traffictechnologytoday.com/news.php?NewsID=35996.

The University of Cape Town’s Department of Civil Engineering offers an undergraduate BScEng degree programme in civil engineering, and hosts a number of research groups which form the locus of research activity and postgraduate teaching in the Department. More information on the Department’s teaching and research activities can be found at www.civil.uct.ac.za. One of the Department’s research groups is the Centre for Transport Studies. The Centre undertakes research and postgraduate teaching activities in the broad field of urban passenger transport systems. Particular current research interests range across public transport systems and paratransit regulation, non-motorised transportation, travel behaviour change, intelligent transport systems, land use-transport system relationships, travel surveys and transport modelling, and project evaluation. An important current source of research funding is through the Centre’s the involvement in ACET (African Centre of Excellence for Studies in Public and Non-motorised Transport), a CoE funded by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations. More information on the Centre and its involvement in international research networks can be found at www.cfts.uct.ac.za and www.acet.uct.ac.za.

For more information, contact Roger Behrens at Roger.Behrens@uct.ac.za.

The Daniel Urban Kiley Teaching Fellowship will be awarded annually to an emerging designer whose work articulates the potential for landscape as a medium of design in the public realm. The Kiley Fellow will be appointed Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design for the 2012-13 academic year. While the Kiley Fellowship will be awarded competitively on an annual basis, successful Fellows are eligible to have their academic appointments renewed for a second year at the rank of Lecturer, dependent upon review of their teaching, research and creative practice.

This initiative is intended to recognize and foster emerging design educators whose work embodies the potential for landscape as a medium of design in the public realm. The Daniel Urban Kiley Fellowship builds upon the history of pedagogic innovation at the GSD as well as the century of leadership in landscape education within the Department of Landscape Architecture.

The state advocacy organizer builds, strengthens and maintains a state network of diverse organizations, public agencies and partners to achieve the following three main policy objectives:

1. Leverage funding for bicycle and pedestrian construction projects, including the award and obligation of federal Safe Routes to School and Transportation Enhancements funds.
2. Facilitate additional street-scale improvements through the adoption of Complete Streets policies, design guidelines that support active transportation, and other mechanisms at state, regional and local levels.
3. Advance joint-use agreements through state level policies and agreements between cities and school districts.

All policies must benefit lower-income communities and are intended to improve the built environment and increase physical activity to help reverse childhood obesity.

The organizer will possess strong skills in recruiting and organizing network partners and building action teams to achieve the three main policy objectives. He or she will also be responsible for ensuring sustainability of the project and position by securing on-going funding for 2014 and beyond.

For more information, see http://www.saferoutespartnership.org/about/contacts/state-advocacy-organizers.