JBU educates future builders

Two key positions on a large construction project are that of the job superintendent and the project manager.

Both positions require vast knowledge of construction as well as management skills — and John Brown University offers students the opportunity to learn about both.

In fact, JBU, a private, Christian school in Siloam Springs, boasts that its four-year construction management degree program is among the oldest in the nation.

It’s one of 50 such programs accredited by the American Council for Construction Education. Established in 1939, JBU’s program is the nation’s second-oldest and is the only ACCE-accredited program at a Christian university, says Kent Davis, professor and head of JBU’s construction management program.

The JBU program is one of two in Arkansas with ACCE accreditation. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock also has an accredited program.

Davis, himself a 1963 graduate of the program, speaks proudly about JBU’s curriculum. It’s a small program, typically graduating about eight students annually but with an overall enrollment averaging about 50.

Students come from across the country — this year, their homes range from New Hampshire to California — and from around the world — Kenya, Guatemala, Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, Senegal, New Zealand and Korea, this year.

Graduates earn bachelor of science degrees with a major in construction management and a minor in business administration. Their required courses include subjects such as accounting, personnel management, business ethics and business law — the same core courses that JBU’s business majors study.

But these students also study topics usually found in engineering degree programs — statics and strength of materials, wood structures, concrete structures and steel structures. Additionally, there’s a series of courses unique to this degree: estimating, scheduling, construction contracting, methods and materials of construction, drafting and blueprint reading, and building design.

Also, there are the field studies that give students hands-on experience at construction sites. Some of the students have previously done a little construction work but others, Davis says, have never been on a job site.

JBU’s graduates often want to return to their hometowns after graduation but they usually have few problems finding employment.

“Currently, there’s a tremendous demand for graduates from these programs,” says Davis, who’s taught at JBU since 1969. “As long as the economy is good, there’s great demand. Our graduates always end up working construction.”

The average salary earned by JBU’s 1998 construction management graduates, who usually start out as assistant project managers, was $32,000, Davis says.

“Salaries in construction management are competitive with nearly every other [major].””That $32,000 average, he notes, “compares favorably to engineering and everything else.”

But Davis says construction managers earn their pay.

“It’s a very demanding situation. They aren’t working [just] 40 hours a week. They’re on salary and are pushed pretty hard, especially by some companies.”

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Company

experience

To ensure that its program meets the needs of industry, JBU has an advisory board made up of representatives from various construction companies. Its graduates have been hired by a number of firms with operations in the region, including Nabholz Construction Corp. and Kinco Inc.

Deb King, a project manager and senior vice president with Nabholz, says her company currently has four JBU graduates among the 150 to 200 employees it has in Northwest Arkansas.

There’s always a need for such skilled workers, she says.

“One of the things that we’re looking for are young people who have made a decision to choose a career as a professional in the construction industry,” King says. “What this [JBU] degree program allows is for [students] to get training in the management process and to shorten the time period that’s required … to where they can quickly come into the decision-making role of running projects.”

Davis says the days when workers could rise through the ranks from that of laborer to becoming a construction manager are nearly past.

“The day of coming up through the ranks, unless you are the son of the owner of the company” are practically gone, he says. “There’s some really talented people that can do that, but it’s pretty difficult.”

And, Davis adds, even those lucky enough to be born into construction families study in JBU’s program.

“We get sons of construction company [owners], too, you know.”

It is, he adds, “a very efficient way to begin your career. You’ll learn a lot and advance faster.”

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Becoming accepted

It hasn’t always been easy to convince students or their parents that construction can be a lucrative career.

Davis says that construction management first became popular as a major 15 or 20 years ago. He estimates there are about a hundred such degree programs across the country.

“Industry has really pushed to have this major in universities. We feel like we’re more responsive to the outside real world than the typical university major.”

King, who’s spent the last 20 years working for Nabholz, says there’s something special about the industry.

“It gets in your blood and you love it. You can go by and say, ‘That’s my building, I built it.’ No matter whether you’re a laborer, a project manager or a superintendent, you feel the same love for it.”

She agrees the possibilities are endless for good construction managers.

“For a young person with the attitude and the aptitude, the sky’s the limit,” King says.

It’s important for the industry to have good managers, too, she says.

“The lack of a good project manager or superintendent will definitely slow down the work. Will it keep [a project] from happening? No, because they’ll find somebody to do it. But finding somebody with the correct aptitudes and experience allows the project to be handled efficiently,” King says.

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Hands-on experience

King says one reason Nabholz likes JBU grads is because of the practical experience they get.

For JBU students in recent years, their laboratory experience has included building a house for Simmons Foods Inc. Simmons, the Siloam Springs poultry company, donates the money for the project and JBU construction students build a house. Seniors supervise; freshmen provide the labor.

Because the laboratory is so short — three hours a week — construction takes two semesters, Davis says. When the house is complete, it’s sold to a Simmons employee and Simmons reinvests the money in another house to be built by JBU students.

Davis says enrollment in JBU’s program has been “pretty solid” for the past 15 years.

“We’ve had kids come and say, ‘This course would be worth taking if all I learn is how to build my own house.'”

While JBU officials wouldn’t mind seeing enrollment expand beyond the 50 or students it currently has, Davis says, to do so would require adding to the faculty. Currently, the school has five construction faculty members — Davis and one other professor who both teach full time and three adjunct professors, each of whom work construction professionally in addition to their JBU responsibilities.

King likes JBU graduates.

“One of the biggest selling points about JBU … is the fact that they are a Christian college and honesty and integrity [are traits] that they develop and encourage. That fits well with the ethics of our company,” she says.

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