MSUM Construction Management Newsletter Spring 2017

A newsletter for students and alumni of Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Construction MANAGEMENT Spring 2017

In this issue: 2 Meet IAB Member

Corey Bronczyk 2 Meet an Alumni

David Langlie 2 Meet an Alumni

Melanie Nordhougen 3 Scott on Sabbatical 3 Meet an Alumni

Nick Heinle 3 ASC Competition 4 AC Exam Results 4 Join us on LinkedIn

Re-accredited for 6 years he American Council for Construction Education (ACCE) has renewed accreditation of the Construction Management program at Minnesota State University Moorhead in July 2016.

Reaccreditation demonstrates the construction management program has maintained the stringent standards of ACCE through a visiting team of its peers and industry practitioners.

MSUM has offered a construction management program since 1980 and has seen steady enrollment growth in the program. The program was granted ACCE accreditation in 1999 and was the first program in Minnesota to become ACCE accredited.

“MSUM’s Construction Management graduates are well-prepared for their careers and are highly sought after by employers,” said Marsha Weber, dean of the College of Business and Innovation. “The high quality program and excellent faculty provide our students with cutting-edge technology and hands-on experiences that are very attractive to employers.

ACCE accreditation validates the quality of our program.”

World of Concrete (Las Vegas, Nevada) n January 16th four seniors were given the opportunity to attend the World of Concrete show in Las Vegas, NV. The world of concrete is a construction expo that advertises some of the top products in the construction industry. Some of the companies that attended this show include CAT, Procore, Hilti, DeWalt, and many others. These companies also included many demos that allowed us to try their new products first hand. Overall, the entire show was a great experience, and taught us about many different products and techniques that we will be able to use throughout our careers.

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Meet an Industry Advisory Board Member orey Bronczyk is an attorney and Co-Chair of the Construction Practice Group at the Arthur Chapman law firm in Minneapolis, MN. Corey is a past graduate of MSUM’s Construction Management program.After graduation, Corey received his Juris Doctor degree from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, and now devotes his legal practice to representing General Contractors, Subcontractors, Material Suppliers, and Design Professionals in a range of legal issues and disputes.Prior to attending law school, Corey spent approximately 10 years within the construction industry, with experience in residential, commercial, and institutional construction projects in both trade and management positions.Corey has served on MSUM’s CM Industry Advisory Board since 2015, and looks forward to working with CM Students as an adjunct professor teaching Construction Law during the 2018-2019 school year.In his free time, Corey enjoys hunting and fishing, and spending time with his wife, son (Connor-3), daughter (McKenzie-2), and dog (Stella).

Where are they now? avid Langlie graduated from MSUM in December 2016, and now currently works for McGough Construction (Fargo) as a Project Engineer. As a Project Engineer he has been primarily estimating projects. Projects include the MSUM East Snarr Dorm Renovation, West Fargo Sanford Clinic, Prairie Lakes Healthcare System Hospital Addition, and the Becker County Jail. David stated that his transition from “Schooling at MSUM, I have found it to be a seamless transition into an estimating role. MSUM gave me the basic skills needed to make it in the industry. I am still learning new skills daily, but the foundation MSUM gave me has made it a much easier transition.”

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MSUM Outstanding Young Alumni Award The MSUM Alumni Foundation recognizes and honors accomplished alumni. The Outstanding Young Alumni award is recognized to recipients that are graduates of the past decade with notable career or community impact. Melanie Nordhougen(2006) was the recipient for the Outstanding Young Alumni in the Fall of 2016. Melanie currently works for Mortenson as an assistant project manger on the Sanford Fargo Medical Center.

She moved to California within a month after graduating to pursue her career in construction, prior to returning to Fargo. There, she worked for Performance Contracting Group, specializing in interior and exterior framing. She worked on a variety of projects where she gained construction experience in education, healthcare and correctional facilities.

Minnesota State University Moorhead

Construction Superintendent of the Year ick Heinle graduated in 2013 from MSUM with a bachelor’s degree in Construction Management. For the past four years he’s worked in the Twin Cities for M/I Homes, a national residential home builder.

Heinle was recently awarded Construction Superintendent of the Year for the company’s Minneapolis/St. Paul Division. The award is given to the superintendent with the highest total number of homes built, homeowner satisfaction survey scores in the 10th percentile, and for successfully meeting all completion time deadlines.

Professor Scott Seltveit on Sabbatical Professor Scott Seltveit has been on sabbatical for the 2016/2017 academic year. During his sabbatical, he has been traveling to all regional 2-year intuitions recruiting prospective transfer students and updating articulation agreements.

Scott also got certified in OSHA 500 and has developed the new course CM 445 – Contractor Quality Management that will be offered fall 2018. He will be teaching CM365 – Safety in spring 2018, in which CM students receive their OSHA 30 certification.

We have already seen a perk of interest into MSUM’s CM program through Scott’s efforts.

Our transfer student enrollment for academic year 2017/2018 has increased from the recent previous years. Great job Scott!

> David Langlie, Ryan Weihemuller, Kalley Bardson, Ryan Robertson and Brady Wright

Students attend ASC Competition ive MSUM Construction Management students competed in the Region IV Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) in the Commercial Division for the first time. MSUM did not place, but gained a lot of knowledge for next years competition. The student competition was held on October 27-29 in Nebraska City, NE. Region IV ASC Division consists of universities from MN, ND, SD, IA, NE, KS, and MO. The project scope of work for the competition was building a 26,000 square feet Police Station on a green field site. The police station had to be LEED certified.

The project had to be completed by performing Collaborative Project Delivery and Lean construction. The project was delivered by Turner Construction.

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Join us on

The MSUM Industry Advisory Board is now using the MSUM Construction Management LinkedIn

AC Exam Results

page to communicate with alumni.

The goal for the LinkedIn page is to

For the first time ever, 100 percent of the students in MSUM’s Construction Management program passed the Associate Constructor Exam. Congratulations to the Construction Management class of 2017!

More than 1,000 students across the nation sat for the spring 2017 Exam, which is given in the fall and spring and is developed and monitored by the American Institute of Constructors Certification Commission.

MSUM students’ average score was 77.8 percent while the national average was 73.4 percent, and they scored well above the national average in 9 out of 10 Construction Management Student Learning Outcome assessment categories. MSUM students have scored at the national average or higher 31 out of 38 times the exam has been given.

All MSUM Construction Management students sit for the AC Level I, Construction Fundamentals Exam when they are enrolled in their seniorlevel capstone experience course.

“Passing this exam indicates that our students are very prepared to enter the construction management workforce,” said Norma Andersen, a professor in MSUM’s Construction Management program. “It demonstrates to employers that MSUM Construction Management graduates have the knowledge and skills to be an asset to their organization immediately upon hire and have the potential to advance in the industry.”

allow all alumni the opportunity to connect with each other regarding any number of things, from job placement, questions relating to issues with projects, and even upcoming networking and happy hour events as well. We encourage all MSUM CM Alumni to join the page. You can find it by simply searching “MSUM Construction Management” on LinkedIn, or by going to https://www.linkedin.com/ groups/4041560, and then clicking the box that says “Ask to Join”.

mnstate.edu/construction-management Minnesota State University Moorhead is an equal opportunity educator and employer. This information will be made available in alternate format, or if a disability-related accommodation is required, please contact Accessibility Resources at 218.477.4318 (voice) or 1.800.627.3529 (MRS/TYY).