Described in this paper are the design and implementation of a transportation executive institute for chief administrative officers of state departments of transportation (DOTs). Although education and training programs for state DOT staff are widely available, there has been little transportation education for chief administrators. The objectives of the Transportation Executive Institute are to contribute to the understanding of political, technological, social, legal, and economic forces affecting transportation management; Increase the understandini: of current issues in transportation; and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and concepts related to transportation. The institute curriculum was developed on the basis of needs assessment surveys of the states. The results provided a priority ranking of organizational and policy issues of concern to chief administrators. The key elements of the success of the program have been (a) assuring that those who attended participated in program development,(b) recruiting outstanding program faculty, and (c) providing a comfortable and attractive learning environment.

The character of state transportation agencies has changed considerably during the past two decades in terms of mission and outlook. Most agencies functioned primarily as highway departments in the 1950s and 1960s, but with changes occurring at all levels of government in the 1970s, most of these agencies were reorganized as departments of transportation. In the 1980s state transportation organizations have been dealing with a broad spectrum of modes and issues, and have also been faced with problems resulting from reductions in w~ rk forces as the highway construction program has begun to wind down. The management of state transportation agencies has also changed during this period. With the transformation to departments of transportation (DOTs) came administrators with backgrounds other than those common to the highway field. Many of these newcomers have been political appointees of governors rather than career professionals in transportation, and are generalists, as compared with the highway engineer-administrators of the past. Most have a short tenure and must deal with a wide spectrum of multimodal concerns. Usually, they are in the public spotlight as they deal with rapidly changing issues, and many do not have the background needed to identify and evaluate options and advise political leaders on a variety of technical issues. Today's chief administrative officers, while effective in the leadership role within a state DOT, still need to be quickly" brought up to speed" in key