Every year, the American Public Transportation Foundation (APTF), APTA’s charitable affiliate, awards scholarships and fellowships to students and young professionals who have chosen the public transportation field as a career.

The 2011 scholarship recipients will be recognized at an Oct. 3 afternoon session during the APTA Annual Meeting and EXPO in New Orleans.

After the award presentations, members of the APTF Scholar Task Force—themselves early- to mid-career transit professionals and past scholarship recipients—will participate in a town hall session, discussing keys to the industry’s future success and taking questions from the audience. This presentation will cover APTF’s recruiting and mentoring plans and will provide an opportunity to share innovative strategies, best practices, and management skills needed now and later.

The purpose of the task force is to advance the mission of APTF. For example, task force members participate in networking and mentoring programs to encourage young people to enter the public transportation field; they also redesigned the APTF web site and are creating a professional social networking program,

Task force members are Larry Duhon Jr., accounting systems administrator/project manager, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (2005 recipient); David Ledwitz, management analyst-service and operations planning, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (1993 recipient); Krystal Oldread, special project supervisor, UMass Transit (2008 and 2009 recipient); task force Chair Marc Scott, Ph.D., research analyst, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, North Dakota State University (2008, 2009, 2010 recipient); Jacqueline K. Sheader, marketing manager, Centre Area Transportation Authority (2005, 2006, and 2007 recipient); Vice Chair Kristen Sheleheda, supervisor of planning and service quality, Beaver County Transit Authority (2009 and 2010 recipient); and Jill Stober, transportation planner, KFH Group (2008 and 2009 recipient).

Presiding over the program will be APTF Board Chair Linda J. Bohlinger, vice president, national director of management consulting, HNTB Corporation.