Newswise — Stephen E. Schlickman, former executive director of the Regional Transportation Authority of Northeastern Illinois, has been named director of the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois of Chicago, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.
The Urban Transportation Center studies urban transportation planning, policy, operations and management. It provides technical assistance to government agencies, nonprofits, industry and other universities to address transportation issues.
The center is part of UIC's College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, where Schlickman has taught transportation project funding and finance as an adjunct lecturer since 1999. He received the college’s Alumni Appreciation Award in March.
As director of the center, Schlickman plans to extend its reach.
"I’d like to make the center not only nationally prominent, but internationally prominent, on the cutting edge of research in urban transportation," Schlickman said.
"I want to focus on a few high-priority areas, like infrastructure repair and maintenance. Our nation is now second-rate in that area to what we used to consider emerging economies, like China, and we’re rapidly sliding toward third-rate."
Schlickman has more than 30 years of transportation experience. As head of the RTA from 2005 until this month, he was charged with oversight, financial assistance and planning coordination for the region’s transit operating agencies: the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace.
Previously, he was a consultant providing financial, project policy, and legislative advice to clients in all modes of surface transportation, as well as water and urban park infrastructure. He led the Business Leaders for Transportation coalition in supporting the Illinois FIRST legislation, which provided $5.7 billion for highway and transit infrastructure.
From 1989 to 1991, Schlickman directed the City of Chicago's office in Washington, D.C. Earlier, he worked in various positions for the Chicago Transit Authority, including government relations manager and administrator of a CTA oversight commission during the 1982-1983 financial crisis.
Schlickman earned a law degree from DePaul University and a bachelor's degree in government from Georgetown University, where he drove a bus in the university transit system in 1975.
He has served as president of the Illinois Public Transportation Association, as a legislative committee member of the American Public Transportation Association, and as policy committee representative on the board of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.
"We are delighted to have Steve join us as a permanent member of our CUPPA team," said Michael Pagano, dean of the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs and interim dean of the College of Business. "Steve is a tireless advocate for efficient and coordinated transportation systems. His successes at the RTA in capital modernization and expansion, securing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, and his involvement with the nation's major transit operators will complement the center’s legacy of dynamic leadership."
Schlickman will take over from Siim Sööt, associate professor emeritus, who has served as interim director of the center since 2008. Soot will continue his research at the center.
For more information about UIC, please visit www.uic.edu
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