Provost's Office NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY Engr. Sci. hr(s)
Graduate Office COURSE ACTION FORM Engr. Des. hr(s)
July 5, 1996
DEPARTMENT/PROGRAM _______CIVIL ENGINEERING___________________________________ TYPE OF PROPOSAL:
New Course __X__
COURSE PREFIX & NUMBER _CE 707___________________________________________________ Review _____
Revision in:
COURSE TITLE _Transportation Policy and Funding__________________________________________ Content _____
Prefix/Number _____
TRACS TITLE_________________( T R A N S P _ P O L _ & _ F U N D _ ) Title _____
Abbreviated Title _____
CREDIT HOURS __3__ CONTACT HOURS ( _3__ - _0__ ) API NUMBER: ___0908_______ Credit Hours _____
Lecture/Recitation __3__ Seminar _____ Contact Hours _____
Laboratory _____ Problem _____ Studio _____ Pre/Corequisite _____
Independent Study/Research _____ Internship/Practicum/Field Work _____ Restrictive State. _____
Major Paper Required: Yes__X_, No____ Description _____
GRADING: ABCDF __X__ or S/U _____ DATE OF LAST ACTION: _____________ Scheduling _____
Drop Course _____
PREREQUISITE(S) CE 501 or graduate standing in Economics or Public Administration______________ GER List Action _____
Dual-level Course _____
COREQUISITES(S) ________________________________________________________________
RESTRICTIVE STATEMENT(S)_____________________________________________________________________________________
CURRICULA/MINORS FOR WHICH COURSE IS DESIGNED: PROPOSED EFFECTIVE DATE: _Fall 2003_____
Required:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Qualified Elective: Graduate programs in Civil Engineering
GER LIST(S): _____________________________________________________________________________________________________
CATALOG DESCRIPTION (Limit to 80 words):
Understanding and debating important current transportation policy issues in the U.S. Raising and allocating funds for building and maintaining the transportation system. Highway, public transit, rail, air, and other modes.
SCHEDULING: Fall ____, Spring _X__, Summer ____; Every Year ____, Alt. Year (odd) ____, Alt. Year (even) _X__, Other ____
INSTRUCTOR RESPONSIBLE FOR COURSE/RANK: J.E. Hummer, Associate Professor ___________________________________
Graduate Faculty Status: Associate_____ Full_X___ (for graduate courses only)
ANTICIPATED ENROLLMENT/SEMESTER: _15__ Maximum No./Sect.: _30__ Multiple Sections: Yes___, No_X_
DOCUMENTATION AS REQUIRED: ENDORSED:
__X_ Course Justification & Objectives
____ Proposed Revision(s) with Reasons __________________________________________________
____ Previous Catalog Description Chair, College Curriculum Committee Date
__X_ Syllabus (New or Current)
____ Previous Syllabus __________________________________________________
__X_ Text(s), Date(s), Price(s) College Dean Date __X_ Enrollment Last 5 Years
__X_ New Resources Required _________________________________________________ _____ Consultation with Other Departments Chair, University Courses & Curricula Committee Date ____ General Education Requirement List Justification
RECOMMENDED: APPROVED:
________________________________________________ __________________________________________________
Department Head Date Provost/Graduate Dean Date
APPROVED EFFECTIVE DATE: _________________ NEXT REVIEW DUE DATE:________________________
Course Action Form Attachments
CE 707, Transportation Policy and Funding
A. Course Justification
Engineers cannot perform technical chores in a vacuum, particularly in the transportation field. Transportation is primarily publicly funded, and public input is vital in project development and implementation these days. Engineers also need to know the outlines of the key policy issues and rival viewpoints because policy-makers will seek their advice, and because they may become policy-makers themselves someday. The curriculum in transportation engineering is heavily weighted toward quantitative techniques, and policy courses in other departments are oriented to analysis methods and large general issues. This course on transportation policy and funding issues thus fills a unique niche and will serve graduates well in the future.
B. Course Objectives
By the end of the course, students will be able to debate the major viewpoints of a number of the key current policy issues in transportation in the U.S. The most important of these issues will be how to raise and allocate funds for building and maintaining the system. How to organize private and public entities to work within the transportation industry will also be a key issue. Students will be able to debate key current policy issues in highway, public transit, rail, air and possibly other modes of transportation. A secondary objective of the course is to make sure that students understand the current transportation policy structure in the U.S. and how it evolved.
C. List of Proposed Revisions with Reasons for Each
This is a proposed new course.
D. Proposed Syllabus (from Spring 2002, the most recent offering)
Evaluation
Evaluation Activity % of Course Grade
Quiz on current and past policies 10
Paper 40
Debate 10
Comprehensive final exam 30
Participation 10
Grading Scale
Threshold Percent of Possible Points Assigned Grade
95.00 A+
90.00 A
86.67 A-
83.33 B+
80.00 B
77.67 B-
73.33 C+
70.00 C
65.00 D
Lower than 65.00 F
Participation
The instructor will record a participation score for each student immediately after each class meeting. The participation score will be based on whether or not the student made a quality comment or asked a good question sometime during the class period.
Paper
The objective of the paper is to construct an argument for one side of a major U.S. transportation policy question. The grade will be based on the strength of the argument, the quality of information sources, and the importance of the issue, as well as the quality of the writing. The word limit for the paper is 7500. In previous semesters, some papers from this class have been published in peer-reviewed journals.
Late Papers
The instructor will accept late papers with a deduction of 10 percent of the paper grade for each calendar day late. Thus, a paper worth 100 points received by the instructor two days late (between 24 and 48 hours after the deadline) and graded as earning 90 percent will be recorded as 72 points (90 percent out of a maximum of 80 possible points).
Quiz on Current and Past Policies
The quiz will be closed-book, will be given early in the semester, and will insure that students have mastered basic knowledge of current policies and their evolution before beginning to debate future policy options.
Debate
The debate will pit two students against each other on opposite sides of a current policy issue in class with stringent time limits and other rules. Evaluation will be based in large part of the quality of the points raised during the debate.
Comprehensive Final Exam
The comprehensive final exam will be open-book and open-notes, and may involve oral questions.
Disabled Students
NC State is subject to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 504 provides that:
"No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States. . . shall, solely by reason of his [or her] handicap be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
This regulation includes students with hearing, visual, motor, or learning disabilities. The instructor will make "reasonable adjustments" to ensure that academic requirements are not discriminatory. Modifications may require rescheduling classes from inaccessible to accessible buildings, providing access to auxiliary aids such as tape recorders, readers, note takers, or interpreters. Exams will actually evaluate students' progress and achievement rather than reflect their impaired skills. This may require oral or taped tests, readers, scribes, separate testing rooms, or extension of time limits. See the instructor to arrange reasonable adjustments such as these.
Academic Integrity
The University policy on academic integrity is in the Code of Student Conduct (found in Appendix L of the Handbook for Advising and Teaching). The instructor expects exams to be prepared by students working alone. In the paper, the instructor expects proper credit to be provided to the sources of facts and opinions used. The instructor’s understanding and expectation is that students submitting an exam or paper abided by the NC State Honor Pledge, i.e., "I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this test or assignment."
Safety and Risk Assumption
Except for the usual risk associated with attending the class and visiting the library, no additional risks are involved during the course.
Pass-Through Charges
Students should expect no additional required charges during this course.
Schedule and Particular Learning Objectives
Week Objectives Reading
1 Why study policy? What are the major goals of In class
U.S. transportation policies?
2 Review current and past policies Wright and Ashford,
Part 1
3 Quiz on current and past policies
Feedback and wrap-up on current and past policies
4 What should the next Federal Transportation Bill Web
look like?
5 How should NC adequately fund highway ITRE and Locke
maintenance? reports
6 What is an optimum access control policy? Web
7 Can we privatize highways? Roth, Ch. 1-5
8 Should we privatize highways? Roth, Ch. 6-7
9 If we decide to privatize highways, what steps Roth Ch. 8 &
should we take? Epilogue
10 Should jurisdictions install red light running Web
cameras? If so, how should they set up
their programs?
11 Should the Federal or any other government Smerk Ch. 14;
subsidize urban public transportation? Winston & Shirley
Ch. 1,2,6,7
12 Should jurisdictions regulate taxis? Gilbert & Samuels
Ch. 5,7,10
13 Should the Federal or state governments Web
subsidize Amtrak and/or high speed rail?
14 Should the Federal government sell the air Web
traffic control system?
15 Student debates
16 Final exam
E. List of Textbooks
· Roth, Gabriel, “Roads in a Market Economy,” Avebury Technical, Aldershot, UK, 1996, approximately $80.
· Other assigned reading will be assembled in a course pack, approximately $40, or will be available on the web.
F. Enrollment for the Last Five Years
The course has been taught three times as a Special Topics course in the past five years:
· Spring 1998, CE 589Q, 9 students
· Spring 2000, CE 595Q, 13 students
· Spring 2002, CE 595Q, 13 students
G. Resources
No new resources are required to conduct CE 707.
H. Consultation with Other Departments
We have been unable to find any overlap between this course and courses in other departments at NCSU. In the past, the course has attracted some students from the Department of City and Regional Planning at UNC-CH. When we offer the course, we will advertise it to the Departments of Economics and Public Administration at NCSU and to the Department of City and Regional Planning at UNC-CH.
I. Undergraduate GER Proposals
Not relevant for this course.
J. GER Web-Based Information
Not relevant for this course.
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