eduardo_j._padrn_5.jpgMIAMI — Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Workforce Education program will host a luncheon geared to attract more female and minority students into South Florida’s expanding transportation and supply chain industries at 11 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 14, at the college’s Wolfson Campus in downtown Miami.

There is no cost to students, who are invited by invitation. Online registration is available at cscmp.org/node/141980. The cost is $30 for advance registration before Feb. 12 and $40 for late and door registration. For more information contact Jorge Guerra at 305-237-7649.

“A lot of these careers are dominated by men and had been closed off to women, who just didn’t think they could excel in that industry,” says Guerra, executive director of MDC’s Workforce Education and Partnerships. “We want to bring awareness of careers for women and minorities.”

Suitably titled “Be BOLD! Women in Transportation,” the luncheon will also serve as a kickoff for MDC’s upcoming degree programs: an associate of Science in Transportation Logistics, which the college plans to debut in the fall of 2013; and a bachelor of Applied Science in Supply Chain Management, planned for the fall of 2014.

Approximately 150 area high schools and MDC students are expected to attend. MDC President Eduardo J. Padrón will give the welcoming address. Michelle Livingstone, Home Depot’s vice president of Transportation, will deliver the keynote speech.

Following an all-female led panel discussion, students will be able to ask questions and network with industry professionals.

MDC’s effort to draw more women and minorities into these professions is a collaboration between Miami-Dade County’s Beacon Council, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools and area universities.

The initiative is aimed at helping to cultivate skilled workers for South Florida’s expanding trade market and opportunities spurred by market growth in Latin America and the expansion of the Panama Canal.

MDC is sponsoring the luncheon with the Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT) and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).