Forming the Next Generation

The construction industry has always had a need for people with the proper knowledge and experience to handle all the important aspects of the concrete business. For many years when there was an opening in the industry the person who was hired either started their career at an established concrete company or came up through the construction ranks. This method of getting new people into the business led to a shortage of trained and educated managers in the concrete field. People in the industry recognized this problem and decided to get together and address the situation.

According to James R. Brown who is the director of the Concrete Industry Management (CIM) course at New Jersey Institute of Technology, both educators and industry professionals worked together to develop a program that would attract college graduates.

“The concrete industry has been having difficulty finding employees that have the proper training and education to effectively manage the operations and sales of the $391 Billion (dollar) industry and to that end reached out and formed a national committee to explore and set up a program that would oversee and provide for the funding and training of personnel to manage the concrete industry. These leaders of the industry are educators and CEOs of major concrete producing companies across the United States.”

The first college program for Concrete Industry Management was started at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1996. Today Dr. Heather Brown is the director of that program.

“An industry person came and did a guest lecture on concrete to our ETIS (Engineering Technology and Industrial Studies) department and realized how little people knew about the concrete industry. He and three other local industry people went to a few regional and national meetings and started talking up the idea of starting a degree that brought college educated people into the business. That was in 1994 and it took a year and a half to get the money raised and permission from the school to start it in 1996.”

The CIM program at Middle Tennessee State University was started in 1996 and since that time similar programs have been started at New Jersey Institute of Technology, California State University-Chico and Arizona State University. The creation of a CIM program is being considered at Iowa State University and Texas State University.

Students who enter a CIM program find that it is similar to many general college management degree programs with the addition of technical courses. At Middle Tennessee State University a student experiences fifty hours of all concrete related coursework and have an internship requirement. Thirty hours are business courses and the rest is general education. All the programs seem similar with a mixture of concrete technical courses combined with working in the industry and with concrete industry professionals.

“The program is designed to where the industry leaders have direct contact with the students through class sessions, industry socials, technical conventions and seminars. Recently, students from the program attended the National Ready-Mix Concrete Association Convention in La Jolla California for three days of classes, business meetings and socials wherein the industry leaders from all over the country met the students and developed a closer involvement with each of them. Many of these students are already being pursued by these leaders as potential employees after graduation.

Students that come into the program have started in engineering or business curriculums and have found out just what the demand for trained and educated managers in the concrete industry actually is. The demand is extremely high for these graduates and the starting salaries are more than the graduates of the other curriculums” said James R. Brown of New Jersey Institute of Technology.

There was a time when students with business or technical aspirations were attracted to more visible professions like computers or the engineerings. Today such college students are discovering the advantages of working in the concrete industry. Those who have completed a CIM program are finding that the concrete industry is in real need of their skills and education.

Allen Brown is a graduate of the Middle Tennessee State University CIM program. He attended it from 1996 to 2000 and was one of the first students to graduate the program. Today he is Director of Marketing for Metro Ready Mix.

“Being a constant supporter and recruiter of the CIM Program (I feel) the opportunities are amazing. Currently, the degree has 100 percent placement across the United States. No one has trouble finding a job with this degree. Getting the opportunity to meet and interact with industry people across the country is unbelievable as well. How many bachelor degrees around the country allow students the opportunity to access companies and future employers on a weekly basis? Not very many that I have heard of.

“The degree has provided me numerous opportunities that I may never have had. It also has put me in situations that have allowed me grow, develop and become a more professional industry person across the board. My ties with industry and with the CIM program will be with me until the day I die.”

The concrete industry is enjoying the fruits of the CIM programs. The success of the programs is leading to its expansion.

“The big change that I see is that we are working on an MBA in Concrete which will be tailored to an executive program so that people who are already in the business but don't have the CIM degree can get the knowledge at the Masters level and move up in their company” said Heather Brown.

Chris Davenport works with Barnes Industrial Group and is also a graduate of the CIM program at Middle Tennessee State University.

“We’re just now seeing a good impact on our industry as a result of the CIM programs. We’re getting an influx of intelligent and articulate people who are excited about working in the concrete industry. This program enables students to immediately walk into a business and make an impact on that company. ”

Davenport keeps close ties with the CIM program at Middle Tennessee State University and teaches a class as a guest speaker there a few times a year. He is also involved with the CIM Patrons Organization which is made up of industry professionals who regularly interact with students in the program to get their feedback about the course.

The value of Industry professionals asking students involved in the CIM programs for feedback and the constant interaction and exchange of information between students, professors and industry professionals is believed to be the reason for the success of the CIM programs around the country.