Roads Scholar Program

The Roads Scholar program has been formally recognizing Iowa’s transportation workers and their commitment to continuing education since 2002.

Workers receive credit hours for attending workshops and conferences, and supervisors can schedule ongoing staff training and better manage their training budgets. Roads Scholar participants can see at a glance what workshops they have attended by reviewing their training records.

Only those Iowa LTAP sponsored workshops that indicate they are part of the Roads Scholar program during workshop registration will be eligible for credit. During the registration process for the workshop, the Scholar must affirm they are part of the program.

Thanks for your interest in the Iowa LTAP Roads Scholar program.

Achievement Levels

The number of credit hours required to attain each Roads Scholar level are as follows:

  • Roads Scholar: 40 credit hours
  • Senior Roads Scholar: 80 credit hours, with the four core courses
  • Master Roads Scholar: 120 credit hours, with the four core courses and Public Employees Leadership Institute courses noted with MRS
  • Elite Roads Scholar: 175 credit hours, with the four core courses and completion of all the Public Employees Leadership Institute courses

Curriculum

Almost all workshops sponsored by the Iowa Local Technical Assistance Program offer credits that can be applied toward the Roads Scholar Program. A list of regularly offered LTAP workshops is available on the LTAP workshops page. The number of applicable credit hours for each course will be indicated when a workshop is advertised.

Certain regularly offered workshops or events can only be applied once toward your Roads Scholar record, but others may be counted more than once after a sufficient time interval (e.g., once every four or five years).

Please note, the Public Employees Leadership Institute courses that are part of the Roads Scholar program are for course credit and not credit hours. The one exception to this is the Supervisory Techniques and Skills core course required to achieve the Senior Roads Scholar level.

Core Courses. The following courses are required for Senior, Master, and Elite Roads Scholar status:

Public Employees Leadership Institute Courses. The following courses are available on the Leadership Institute website, and courses required for Master Roads Scholar status are indicated with MRS:

  • Supervisory Techniques and Skills
  • Team Development (MRS)
  • Effective Communication Skills (MRS)
  • Leadership Skills
  • Community Service/Customer Orientation Skills
  • Legal Understanding
  • Fundamentals of Government (MRS)
  • Finance
  • Resource Management
  • Public Works Operations and Maintenance
  • Basic Management (MRS)
  • Emergency Management
  • Project Management
  • Winter Maintenance Management
  • Sustainability in Public Works

Case-by-Case Guidance

Case-by-case guidance is available for individuals registered for the new program to ensure proper transfer of credit hours from the legacy Roads Scholar program to the new.

Review the requirements for the legacy Roads Scholar program, active before September 1, 2014.

The grandfathering period for the 2014 Roads Scholar transition has ended. From this point forward, only Iowa LTAP sponsored workshops completed after participants have officially registered in the Roads Scholar program will be considered for potential credit hours. This can be done on this website (see sidebar). If you have any questions, please contact Iowa LTAP.

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