PCC to Receive $500,000 from U.S. Department of Transportation

Tucson, AZ -- Pima Community College will receive $500,000 over the next five years as part of a U.S. Department of Transportation grant to a consortium of eight colleges and universities in the western U.S. seeking to address regional transportation, workforce development, mobility and environmental issues.

PCC will receive $100,000 a year for each of the next five years to provide geospatial information systems training for tribal communities, along with training in soft skills for students in its Truck Driver Training and Logistics and Supply Chain Management programs. The funding also will allow PCC to put its Logistics and Supply Chain Management program fully online.

“This is great news for our students and the community,” Chancellor Lee D. Lambert said. “The grant will allow us play a key workforce development role in an important sector of the regional economy.

“The grant also is an example of how PCC’s engagement on a national level can bring back benefits to the local community,” said Chancellor Lambert.

The funding to PCC is part of a five-year, approximately $12 million grant from the Department of Transportation to eight colleges and universities. PCC is the only community college in the group, known as METRANS. Other schools receiving funding:

University of Southern California
California State University-Long Beach
University of California-Davis
University of California-Irvine
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Hawaii-Manoa
Northern Arizona University

The new center, the Pacific Southwest Regional, will be is part of the METRANS family of research centers at metrans.org, based at USC. .

the schools submitted a grant proposal to be designated the Department of Transportation’s University Transportation Center (UTC) for Region 9, which covers California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific island territories. The Department of Transportation awards only one UTC designation to each of 10 federal regions. The Pacific Southwest Region UTC will be housed at USC.

The center will focus on four research themes:

Technology to address transportation problems and improve mobility;
Improving mobility for vulnerable populations;
Improving resilience and protecting the environment;
Managing mobility in high-growth areas.

CONTACT:

Libby Howell, APR, Executive Director
Media, Government and Community Relations
520-549-9093, ehowell1@pima.edu