HighLight Heading
November 2008
Transitway program featured at Hennepin-University Partnership symposium
Robert Jones
The Transitway Impacts Research Program (TIRP) was one of the successes featured at the First Annual Hennepin- University Partnership Symposium held October 10 on the Minneapolis west bank campus.
Hennepin County and the University of Minnesota launched the partnership in early 2005 to capture value for both organizations through a more strategic collaboration. This includes collaborating on community-based research, sharing academic and practitioner expertise, and providing students with valuable real-world experience.
The symposium began with an introduction to the partnership from Robert Jones, senior vice president of the University, and Hennepin County commissioners Randy Johnson and Linda Koblick. (Jones and Koblick are members of the CTS Executive Committee.)
Next on the agenda was a panel that shared examples of effective collaboration, beginning with the Transitway Impacts Research Program. The initial partnership between Hennepin County and the University has grown to a regional collaboration and pooling of funds by other metro counties, Mn/DOT, the Metropolitan Council, and the Itasca Project. (See related article.)
Highlights and research updates were given by Robert Johns, CTS director; Professor Ed Goetz, director of the Humphrey Institute’s Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program; and Marthand Nookala, assistant county administrator for public works with Hennepin County.
All three spoke of the benefits of taking a collaborative approach to transitway research. “No one county can do the research,” Nookala said, “and we need everybody at the table so that all citizens can benefit from the research.” Johns reported that the program’s research approach and structure could become a national model for the conduct of transitway research and has attracted the interest of the Federal Transit Administration. Goetz discussed the benefits of graduate student involvement—to the students and to the sponsors—in conducting the research.
Richard Johnson, Hennepin County administrator, introduced the lunch keynote speaker, Peter Hutchinson, president of the Bush Foundation. An afternoon panel on the future of collaboration featured Professor Tom Scott, director of the University’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (and a CTS Faculty Scholar), and Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin.
Johns, Goetz, Scott, and Andrew Furco, the University’s vice president for public engagement (and CTS Executive Committee member), serve on the Hennepin-University Partnership Advisory Committee.
For more about the partnership, see www.umn.edu/hup.