Officials from Turkmenistan study transportation at Wright State University

A group of government officials from the central Asian nation of Turkmenistan visited Dayton to learn about transportation in the United States Nov. 20­–22. The delegation was hosted by Wright State’s University Center for International Education (UCIE).

The visitors discussed the collaborative Certificate in Transportation program with students and faculty from the Wright State Department of Geography and Urban Affairs as well as with representatives from the Ohio Department of Transportation.

“This was a wonderful opportunity to showcase Wright State’s collaboration with state and local government,” said UCIE Director Michelle Streeter-Ferrari. “We were honored to host these officials, to connect them with the transportation industry here in Dayton and to help them learn ways to enhance the transportation system in their home country.”

The delegation spent their visit throughout the city of Dayton learning about the role of local government in the transportation industry. They studied the city’s parking system and its growing network of bike paths. They also met with the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission to discuss the region’s transportation planning and infrastructure.

The group visited RTA to study Dayton’s bus system. They learned about how RTA passengers pay for their services, how the company keeps its financial records and how it maintains its vehicles.

Though Wright State has been welcoming foreign guests to its campus for decades, this was only the second delegation that has visited the university as part of the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).

The program brings foreign leaders and experts to the United States for cultural and intellectual exchange. Host institutions are members of the National Council for International Visitors (NCIV), which Wright State joined earlier this year.

The NCIV’s nationwide network includes more than 90 community organizations as well as program agencies, associate members and individuals. Only 7 percent of all NCIV members are universities.