CM-Spring 2014 newsletter

The Constructor - Spring 2014 Newsletter of the Boise State University Department of Construction Management Message from the Chair: This year has been a busy one for the Construction Management program here at Boise State. As you will see as you read through this newsletter work has been going on with two significant projects, the Associated Schools of Construction student competition in Reno as well as the regular activities of student life.

During the fall semester there were some personnel shifts that occurred with Rebecca Mirsky moving into the position of Interim Associate Dean for the College of Engineering.

Tony Songer was able to move into a faculty position where he now has more time to work on some projects that are of great interest to him. At the end of the fall semester Rebecca was given yet another job to do, that of Interim Chair for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Even with all the demands on her time she will be offering a prep

course for the LEED Green Associate exam in April. Information on this may be found in this newsletter.

In December we held our traditional graduation ceremony for our 10 graduates. It is at this ceremony that our graduates receive their hard hats, once again supplied by support for the Construction Management Alumni Association to whom we express our thanks.

As we moved into spring the Reno Competition became the focus of our world. Later in this newsletter there are a list of contributors who helped to make it possible for our students to participate in this competition. We greatly appreciate your support and want to let you know we could not continue to participate in this event without your help. We sent seven teams to the competition this year and the Design-build team brought home a first place trophy.

Robert Hamilton, PhD, PE Associate Professor and Chair Department of Construction Management

Congratulations to the Fall 2013 Graduates!

LEED Green Associate Exam Preparation — April 12-13, 2014, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

In this two-day class you will learn about core concepts of green building and fundamentals of the LEED 2009 rating systems to help you prepare for the LEED Green Associate Exam – the first step in becoming an accredited LEED professional.

Instructor: Dr. Rebecca Mirsky Dates: April 12-13, 2014 Boise State Campus—MEC106 Visit extendedstudies.boisestate.edu/cpd/leed-green-prep for more details.

Students Manage Project to Help Injured Youth By: Ralph Poore Student volunteers from the Boise State Construction Management Association (CMA) have helped give injured Kuna High School football player Boone Bartlome a new space to hang out with his friends.

Managing a project that uses volunteer labor offered the construction management students several challenges. Around 100 volunteers worked on the project.

“One of the challenges is time management of volunteer labor,” said Casey Cline, assistant professor of construction management and CMA faculty advisor. Construction managers usually schedule contractors as they are needed on a project. “But when you are working

In the process of helping make it easier for Bartlome to get around his home and spend time outdoors in a wheelchair, CMA members also received a lot of practical learning in managing a construction project and working with professionals and other volunteers.

Bartlome returned to Kuna on Feb. 20 after spending three months at Denver’s Craig Hospital, which specializes in rehabilitation for patients with spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries. But the construction project on his home, which relied on volunteer labor, had not yet been completed. The volunteers continue to work on the project that is scheduled to be completed by mid-March.

Before he broke his neck during a state high school playoff game last November, Bartlome used to hang out with his friends in the secondfloor bonus room of his family’s home.

To give him a new hangout space, volunteers built a 300-square-foot addition to his bedroom that provides Bartlome a rehab workout equipment area and a wheelchair friendly bathroom. Volunteers have added wheelchair ramps and wood floors that make it easy for Bartlome to move around his home.

“Boone is a really outdoorsy kid,” said Danny Hinson, the project manager and a Boise State junior from Southern California. So the volunteers built a large concrete pad to give Bartlome an outdoor space.

“The volunteers really wanted to see Boone get in his new space and enjoy what we’ve built,” Hinson said. “I and most of the other workers on the project had never met Bartlome, but hearing his story was enough to motivate us.”

“I and most of the other workers on the project had never met Bartlome, but hearing his story was enough to motivate us.” Danny Hinson, CMA Project Manager

CMA Members begin framing in the roof portion of the addition for injured Kuna football player Boone Bartlome. Bartlome suffered a severe back injury on November 9th during a playoff game between Kuna High School and Bishop Kelly High School with volunteer contractors, you have to play by their game,” he said.

“For example, one contractor called and said ‘I need to come now,’” even though he wasn’t immediately needed.

Another challenge showed the community’s concern for Bartlome.

More people volunteered to help than could be efficiently used. So a number of people had to be turned away. Donations paid almost 100 percent of the cost of the project.

Although it was a volunteer project, CMA approached the work on Bartlome’s home as though it were a service learning class. The students developed estimates, created project schedules, created a project binder, received approval to proceed from Cline, worked with subcontractors, tracked job changes, wrote daily job and safety reports, filled out time cards, prepared safety audit sheets and took turns supervising work.

CMA has about 60 members and is the Boise State student chapter of the Association of General Contractors. It has been around for about 30 years.

Students Preserve Minidoka Site History By: Ralph Poore

While many students will be heading to fun recreation spots during spring break, a group of Boise State construction management and history students will be helping preserve the Minidoka National Historic Site.

The students will erect a historical reconstruction of one of the eight original guard towers that surrounded the boundaries of the residential and administrative areas of the relocation center.

Idaho’s Minidoka National Historic Site, in Jerome County near Twin Falls, was one of the largest and most remote Japanese American relocation compounds during World War II and was one of 10 relocation centers during the war. More than 120,000 United States citizens of Japanese ancestry were Students construct the room and apply weather sealant on the ground. Once dry, the structure was placed on the supports. incarcerated during the war, an act now recognized as a violation of civil liberties.

Members of the Construction Management Association The first Japanese-Americans arrived at Minidoka on Aug. 10, (CMA), an Associated General Contractors (AGC) student 1942. At its peak the relocation center held nearly 9,000 peo- group, also are assisting in the process. The entire structure is being managed and built by students with faculty supervision ple, making it the seventh-largest city in Idaho. Today, Minidoka is a National Historic Site managed by the National — from estimates and orders for materials to final construction.

Park Service (NPS).

Students built the tower as completely as possible in the con- The plan is to have the tower ready in time for June’s annual Minidoka Pilgrimage, where there will be an official dedicastruction management highbay lab. They partially decontion of the guard tower structure. structed the tower in order to transport it to Minidoka on March 22. At Minidoka, the students comThe NPS awarded the Friends of Minidoka pleted the tower’s construction and placed a $280,378, 2-for-1 matching grant for the it on its foundation. project through the Japanese American Thirteen students enrolled during fall semester to work on the initial project planning while learning about the historical context of the incarceration and the political and social factors that contributed to it.

Confinement Sites Grant Program. The guard tower reconstruction is a collaborative project between the Friends of Minidoka, the National Park Service, Boise State’s Department of Construction Management and Department of History, and the CMA. Cole Architects and Axiom Engineering of Boise volunteered their time and efforts to develop plans for the guard tower by using historic photographs.

Organizers hope the reconstruction will draw further attention to the Minidoka story and increase interest in preservation efforts.

Above: The replica tower stands over the NHS marker.

Right: Students work together to raise the tower supports.

http://www.minidoka.org/ http://minidokapilgrimage.wordpress.com/ http://minidokaguardtower.weebly.com/

Â

Thank you to our Generous Sponsors It takes thousands of dollars and hundreds of man-hours to prepare and send teams to the ASC Region 6 & 7 competitions in Reno, NV. The Faculty of the Department of Construction Management would like to thank each of the following for their support of this important student experience. Congratulations to our Design Build team on their 1st Place Finish!

Platinum Sponsors: Anderson Construction Company Beniton Construction Company Engineered Structures, Inc. Granite Construction Company McMillian, LLC.

Gold Sponsors: McCarthy Building Companies Cloverdale Plumbing CM Company Kiewit Energy Group, Inc.

Â