In a training session at Minnesota State University Mankato, Harold Osmundson, State Recruitment Officer for Toastmasters International, shares how the professional communication and leadership organization benefits students on construction management career paths.

Construction management students visit a jobsite on the Minnesota State University, Mankato campus.

In the built environment, the geometric shape of a triangle can bring strength and stability to a structure. The same goes for a three-sided organization called Construct*ium, which brings together students, instructors and regional industry representatives.

“We’re connecting the construction community and striving to become a partner with all stakeholders in the AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) spectrum,” says Peter Hilger, Faculty Director of the Construction Management program at the University of Minnesota, and “chief evangelist” of Construct*ium. “The foundation of 
Construct*ium is based on four pillars of teamwork: collaboration, competition, career and course-sharing (courses offered to two or more schools). The organization helps us do more with fewer resources. We all have similar problems, challenges and opportunities.”

Construct*ium is a programmed collaboration effort between students, instructors and various industry representatives. The organization helps instructors augment the education of students who participate in construction studies programs, giving learners real-world experiences and providing construction firms and allied services with recruiting opportunities.

“It’s about being in a league—like the Big Ten, except with a hard hat and a competitive, yet collaborative, spirit,” says Hilger. “It’s all about networking to recruit or be recruited.”

A League of Learning … and a Common Cause

Construct*ium originated from discussions among educators and AEC firms. It revolves around various activities that enhance learning programs.

Guest lectures, soft-skills training and request-for-proposal (RFP) preparation opportunities for building and construction firms serve to enliven coursework. Job site visits—including the new U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings—are great networking and recruiting opportunities.
Since each student must complete a capstone project to graduate, a capstone contest was created to deepen understanding and strengthen relationships; it also motivates students to complete their degrees.

The annual Construction Management Quiz Bowl, a favorite Construct*ium event, was the catalyst that led to the creation of Construct*ium. Hilger developed the quiz bowl (which takes place after students return from spring break) to supplement his college course teachings and to provide a fun way to ease students back into the semester. Faculty members at his school contribute easy, medium and hard questions from their course curricula and the judges’ panel is comprised of volunteers from the Minnesota Construction Association, a nonprofit organization that provides networking, recognition and education opportunities to educators, students and industry professionals.
“We saw the value of this event as a genuine league-type activity with our other construction management schools in the region,” says Hilger. “They liked the idea, and from this, the ‘league’ was born.”

The Construction Management Quiz Bowl, held in October, allows student teams to compete head-to-head to test their knowledge by answering questions specific to the AEC industry. The winning team gets to display for one year the J.E. Dunn Trophy, which features a Vaughan 999 gripping hammer sitting vertically atop an oak base.

Following the cross-college expansion of the quiz bowl tournaments, Construct*ium began sponsoring an annual career fair held each fall. Initially, it only drew construction firm exhibitors from the upper Midwest and beyond, but has since grown to include other professions, too.

“Our fall career fair is now branded as the Built Environment Career Fair, catering to architects, engineers, contractors, facility services, owners’ representatives, financial and others,” states Hilger.

Construct*ium Crafts Leaders Using Real-World Experiences

What the organization’s leaders realized next was that students needed more soft-skills training. So, they rolled out a spring event that helps to equip students with key skills to grow leadership potential. Targeted areas of training include giving presentations, participating in group communication and speaking in public.

Additionally, the higher education institutions that partnered with Construct*ium encourage students to continue their professional growth by joining Toastmasters International clubs and other professional education organizations designed to help members improve their communication and leadership skills.

“Our students need managerial skills more and more because of project complexities,” says Dr. Mohamed Diab, an Associate Professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato (MSU-Mankato) and one of the Founders of Construct*ium. “We don’t have enough professors, and we don’t have enough time, to bring these benefits to our program without Construct*ium.”

Another activity, preparing RFPs, provides students with real-world, hands-on experience. Construct*ium’s annual Capstone Competition challenges students to craft professional proposals for an actual construction project. Each team has to collaborate with the sponsoring firm to match the firm’s expertise and capabilities with the project’s specifications, and also come up with a convincing plan and a competitive bid. The students’ proposals are then submitted for the competition.

The inaugural Capstone Competition, which took place in spring of 2016, involved six teams of students planning construction work for a residential apartment complex with first-floor commercial space in downtown Minneapolis. Students from MSU-Mankato, the University of Wisconsin–Stout and the University of Minnesota worked with Ryan Companies US Inc., a national developer and building firm, even though actual work on the project had already been secured and started.

This particular contest achieves the educators’ mission to directly connect students and members of the industry in regular work scenarios. “When something is sponsored by a company instead of made up by a professor, it has much more relevance for students,” says Hilger.

Diab adds: “Our participating students at MSU-Mankato learned a great deal about current best practices from this networking opportunity.”

With the region’s plethora of construction management schools and the industry’s ongoing employment needs, Construct*ium initiatives and participants continue to grow. Most recently, national firms and organizations that have taken notice and lent support include Hammes Co., a national health care and sports facility developer that sponsored the Vikings Stadium tour, and the Associated Schools of Construction, which selected Minneapolis as the site, and Construct*ium as the host, for its 2018 international conference due to Construct*ium’s unique work in the region. Hilger emphasizes that participation by industry experts in collegiate studies benefits students “beyond measure.”

Equipping Future Project Managers with Confidence

Brandon Gray and Kaleb North, students from the University of Minnesota and MSU-Mankato, respectively, echoed a similar appreciation for Construct*ium. Gray values how the organization is rounding out his education in a way that will benefit him when he’s actually working in the industry.

“Construct*ium has allowed me to actively learn and gain experience in the construction industry outside of the classroom, and to network with industry professionals and academic professors with greater confidence,” Gray says.

Currently, the nine schools that are actively involved in Construct*ium include:

• University of Minnesota
• Minnesota State University, Mankato
• University of Wisconsin—Stout
• South Dakota State University
• North Dakota State University
• University of Northern Iowa
• Dunwoody College of Technology
• Minnesota State University Moorhead
• Iowa State University

Construct*ium is always looking for construction, engineering and design professionals who are interested in working with construction management students and sponsoring events. To learn how you can support Construct*ium, visit www.constructium.org.