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Beverly Ward

Beverly Ward is a senior research associate in the Division of Training, Research, Education, and Demonstrations, Department of Child & Family Studies at University of South Florida. Over the past 25 years, she has held the positions of director for special projects for Family and Child Services in Birmingham, Alabama; Social Worker for the Department of Human Resources in Birmingham; transportation director for the Office of Senior Citizens’ Activities in Birmingham; assistant director of the Alabama Transit Association and director for Ethnography and Transport Systems at the Center for Urban Transportation Research.

Dr. Ward has served on the National Academy of Sciences, Transportation Research Board (TRB) TCRP Project Panel B-03, Demand Forecasting for Rural Passenger Transportation, and on Project Panel J-07, Synthesis of Information Related to Transit Problems. She is also a member of these TRB committees: Women’s Issues in Transportation; Social and Economic Factors of Transportation; and Environmental Justice in Transportation. Dr. Ward is a member of the Harvard University Civil Rights Project, Transportation Roundtable Advisory Committee.

She has conducted numerous transportation and transit-related research projects for a variety of state and federal agencies, including the Florida Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Miami–Dade County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), and the Volusia County MPO. Related research projects conducted as principal or co-principal investigator include studies on:

The social impacts of natural and other disasters, housing, and transportation policies on persons with disabilities, women, and low-income and minority communities;

Health conditions and access to care for women, persons with disabilities, low-income households, and minorities;

Job training and employment opportunities and transportation for families subject to welfare reform and “work first” requirements;

Evaluation of transportation resources available to families subject to welfare reform and “work first” requirements

Using geographic information systems to assess the impacts of public policies on women, persons with disabilities, low-income households, and minorities; and

Public policies and investments in non-motorized transportation.

Dr. Ward holds a B.A. in psychology and film and drama from Vassar College, an M.P.A. in urban planning and design from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a Ph.D. in applied anthropology from the University of South Florida.