The Rudin Center plays an important role in shaping the NYU Wagner transportation curriculum. In addition to the Center's involvement in NYU's graduate program, it is also committed to professional development, which it promotes through programs such as the NYMTC Executive Development Course, and the NYMTC Staff Training
Historically, transportation agencies have been built on a traditional public administration management model: they hired technical staff with expertise in specific projects, and managers who focused on completing those projects within time and budget constraints. Increasingly, however, these same transportation agencies are being asked to adopt more strategic- and planning-based management styles. In this new capacity, managers must now be able to interact with, accommodate, and persuade a wide array of external actors; they must be able to organize their efforts around an evolving and changing set of strategic goals; and they must have the creativity and flexibility to implement new management strategies to enhance operations in times of fiscal and capacity constraints. At the same time, technical staff have many more tools at their disposal and must better understand how best to use them ad how to translate their findings for those not as familiar with these new techniques.
To the Rudin Center has designed a staff training program to meet these challenges. It addresses the need of both managerial and technical personnel, who are guided in the selection of the most appropriate classes within three modules including skill building; tools and methods; and policy issues. Classes are aimed specifically at managerial staff, some aimed specifically at technical staff, and some that are broader and meant for both groups, and the training includes classes at different levels of experience and expertise (e.g., Conflict and Negotiation 1; Conflict and Negotiation 2).
