LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University alum Erik Weber ’07 has been named a Presidential Management Fellow in the Federal Transit Administration in Washington, D.C. Through the fellowship, Weber works with the United We Ride agency, which focuses on helping communities provide safe, affordable and easy access to public transportation.
“My work revolves around human service transportation issues, especially those of lower-income, disabled and older Americans,” said Weber. “These transportation-disadvantaged populations require more specific attention because they may not have the same access to standard transit services that are available in their communities.”
For 29 years, the Presidential Management Fellows Program has been used by federal agencies to attract outstanding graduate students from a wide variety of academic disciplines to public service. The two-year fellowship offers extensive formal classroom training and rotational assignment opportunities.
“Former Fellows at FTA have rotated within the administration or the department or gone outside of federal government altogether,” Weber said.
Weber took the position in Washington, D.C., after being offered a teaching position in Austria through the prestigious Fulbright Program. He is fluent in German and has taught German to high school students through Kentucky Educational Television.
Weber graduated from Transylvania cum laude with a double major in political science and mathematics and a minor in music and said both his majors have served him well.
“I took the political science into graduate school to get my master’s in public administration, but throughout that program, and now in my job, I was and am constantly confronted with challenges where I am glad to have my math skills to fall back on, especially statistical analysis.”