Region IV - North Central

News Release*

October 29, 2005

 

North Central Region IV of the Association Schools of Construction

Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota

 

Region IV website – http://cmdept.unl.edu/region4

During October 27-29, 2005, the North Central Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) - Region IV met at the Lied Lodge in Nebraska City, Nebraska for its annual conference.  Twelve of the fifteen universities in the seven state region were represented.  In attendance were 21 university faculty and 206 students. Events included this year were the midyear meeting, Career Fair and annual Student Management Competitions.  Students, faculty and industry met for lunch during the Career Fair.  This year’s fair sported the influx of 23 representatives from 11 different construction firms. The Associated General Contractors (AGC) partnered with the ASC financially to ensure a successful outcome of events.  Companies in attendance at the conference were

• Lusardi Construction – San Marcos, California
• M. A. Mortenson Company – Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Hawkins Construction Company – Omaha, Nebraska
• Hensel Phelps - Denver, Colorado
• Signature Construction - Carmel, Indiana
• Kiewit Western – Omaha, Nebraska
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)- Omaha, Nebraska
• McCarthy Building Company – Tempe, Arizona
• HearthStone Homes – Omaha, Nebraska
• Centex Homes –  Chesterfield, Missouri
• Pulte Homes – Kansas City, Kansas
• Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Nebraska – Walt Broer, President
• National Association of Home Builders – Student Chapter

Pulte Homes traveled to the conference to participate in an industry demonstration of Pulte building components in development.  Presented were topics in precast foundations and panels. Cris Cash, Vice President of Construction for Pulte National and Jim Peterson Director of Pulte Building Products were the key speakers for this event.  In addition, Jim Goddard of Kansas State and Dick Karfonek, former Construction Management department chair at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, held a training session for those interested in  those interested participating in accreditation visits for the American Council of Construction Education (ACCE).  The council is the governing body for the accreditation of post secondary construction education programs in the United States.

The Student Management Competition was the highlight of all of the ASC events. It is one of the largest of its type in the United States. Twenty-nine Construction Management teams from eleven different universities competed in the Commercial, Heavy Civil, Design Build, and Residential divisions.  They used real plans and specifications from projects that have already been constructed. The overall intent is to place students in the “real life” project management situations.  In an 18 hour period, they must schedule, estimate, run cost analysis, and anticipate issues that will arise as the project is being built.  A panel of judges from industry review the hard copies of the students proposed plans for managing and constructing the project.  Students are asked to prepare and present their proposed ideas to the panel of judges.  This part of the competition brings to light student’s knowledge and ability to work together in an active environment that closely emulates project management reality.  In order to facilitate such an environment, the judging panel is comprised of representatives from all facets of the construction industry.  This includes the owners, architects, contractors, and engineers.

Winners of the commercial, heavy highway, and design build divisions have qualified to compete in the ASC/AGC national competition which is usually held at the same time as the AGC national convention.  However, Katrina has made the AGC 2006 Convention (March 19 - 22, 2006) plans in New Orleans, LA out of the question.  Current AGC National plans are to hold the AGC National Convention in Palm Desert, CA. those same dates.  The AGC National office has informed the ASC board that the cost of hosting the National Student Competition (NSC) in Palm Desert is too expensive.   Therefore, the NSC (for 2006 only) is being considered for another date and venue.  Currently, the competition is tentatively scheduled for April 6-9, 2006 in Dallas, Texas.  As for the Residential division, the winner and the two runner ups are invited to compete in the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) competition in Orlando, Florida January 13-16, 2006.

This year’s competition division winners are as follows:

Design Build

 Sponsored by Hensel Phelps; Assisted by Lusardi Construction

Commercial

Sponsored by M.A. Mortenson Company

Heavy Civil

Sponsored by Peter Kiewit & Sons

Residential

Sponsored by Centex Homes, Assisted by HearthStone Homes

ASC Region IV Member Schools

*Contribution by Charles (Chuck) Berryman, Ph.D., CPC; ASC Region IV Director

Send mail to cberryman1@unl.edu with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: July 14, 2009