Michigan State University (MSU) has $1 million to
jumpstart the Certificate Program in Railway Management, a program designed to
give students the knowledge they need to replace retiring railroad executives.
The railroad industry is expected to hire 80,000 people
by 2012 to keep up with growth and replace retiring professionals, according to
the Association of American Railroads in Washington, D.C.
“There’s not a program like this in the Western
Hemisphere,” says Dennis Gilstad, chairperson and CEO of Fenton-based FCM Rail.
“Our intent is for MSU to become the railway education and research center of
the world.”
MSU is the only school in the country that has a
comprehensive education program for railroad executives. The program will cover
virtually every facet of railway operations including safety, technology,
regulation and finances.
Eventually the program will offer master’s and possibly
bachelor’s degrees.
Source: Lisa Mulcrone, Michigan State University
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
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