Construction management degree program

The Department of Construction Management at LSU is not unusual in its mission--it trains people to run heavy construction companies. But it is rare in at least two other ways.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

One is its size. George Hammitt, the department's chair, says LSU's program is the second largest of the 66 such programs in the country. With more than 700 students, construction management is now the largest of the LSU engineering school's seven departments. Its enrollment has nearly quadrupled since 1999, when the program was accredited.

But size can also be a problem. "Space was much, much, much needed," says Hammitt. "But universities do not allocate resources based on need. Space at a university is more scarce than hen's teeth."

Fortunately for the department, its other notable distinction is the depth of its engagement with private sector partners--who happen to be in the business of building and renovation. When the College of Engineering declared its old boiler building as surplus in the 1990s, the next step was fairly obvious.

"We didn't see an empty building, we saw potential classrooms," says Lane Grigsby, chairman of the board of Cajun Constructors. Led by Mike Polito, president of MAPP Construction and a graduate of the department, a group of about 30 contracting companies donated almost a half million dollars worth of time and money, converting the derelict boiler facility into 3,800 square feet of new office and classroom space. The building opened in January.

The Baton Rouge construction industry had a selfish reason to help the department expand. The industry had gotten together before to create Associated Builders and Contractors to train pipe fitters, electricians and other craftsmen. But that wasn't enough.

"We realized that we were only training our workforce, not the people who were going to replace us," Grigsby says.

So the industry formed the Construction Industry Advisory Council, which works directly with LSU's construction management department on faculty and student enhancement, fund raising and curriculum. Its 80-plus-member board meets monthly, and many also teach as adjuncts.

What makes the group effort interesting is that the firms--Cajun, MAPP, Turner Industries, Performance Contractors and others--are otherwise locked in daily struggle with one another.

"Everybody figured out that cooperation of the group was more important than the narrow interest of the individual," says Grigsby, who points out that he and his competitors had already worked together on lobbying and other industrywide concerns. "We set aside our individual competitiveness for the good of the industry."

The program combines business and engineering know-how.

"We teach how to manage large projects," says Hammitt.

Students learn estimating, scheduling, construction law, construction enterprise, calculus, physics, materials design, accounting and business. The end result is a bachelor's degree, though interdisciplinary master's degrees are available from the College of Engineering.

"Our students all get jobs," says Hammitt. He says their average starting pay is $42,000, and about 60 percent of each year's 120 graduates work in state--45 percent of them in the Baton Rouge area.

Much of that success flows from the department's well-subscribed internship program. More than 80 percent of interns stay on with their companies after graduating, according to the engineering school's career services office.

Hammitt says graduates of the program should have acquired enough know-how to run their own companies, especially after working for someone else for a while to learn the ropes.

"Eventually they want to go out and run their own businesses. They have an entrepreneurial spirit."

HAL COHEN covers real estate and legal issues. Reach him at hcohen@businessreport.com.