Colorado State University Department of Construction Management

Fort Collins-campus program has become one of the best in the country

CSU’s Construction Management Department is among the best in the U.S. Its influence is reaching across the country and beyond.

The inception of Colorado State University’s construction education program is directly tied to the needs of the nation at the end of World War II. Since 1946, the program has grown from training for individuals supporting post-war infrastructure growth into the third largest academic department on the Fort Collins campus—a department that places 100% of its nearly 200 graduates in construction jobs annually.

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“Construction management at Colorado State has come a long way since the early years,” says Mostafa Khattab, head of CSU’s Construction Management Department. “The last decade has brought about the program’s greatest growth surge in both student enrollment and the breadth of teaching, research and outreach.”

Today, the CSU Construction Management Department continues to serve the country as it prepares students for one of the nation’s largest industries. “The future of construction education relies on the relationships with our industry,” says Khattab.

The education-construction industry relationship has grown over the past 60 years into a partnership that not only is rebuilding the department but also is offering students hands-on opportunities with industry professionals to address real-life construction issues.

These hands-on opportunities have increased on campus since 2005, when the university started numerous campus projects, including new construction and historic preservation, with the help of students from the Construction Management Department and industry professionals.

A construction management class learns how to frame a roof, continuing the school’s hands-on training approach. (Photo courtesy of Colorado State University)

“We are working to renovate all our facilities, addressing issues of sustainability and historic preservation, to create a professional-looking environment to support the students we are preparing to be professionals in the industry,” said former department head Larry Grosse at the department’s 60th anniversary in 2006.

One of the larger new construction projects that CSU students participated in was the $45-million Academic Village, completed in 2007. It was a collaborative project among construction management students; landscape architects; interior designers; mechanical, electrical and civil engineers and Whiting-Turner of Denver.

Construction management students survey the historic Oval on the Fort Collins campus. The award-winning, 60-year-old program has developed into one of the largest specialized degree programs on campus. (Photo courtesy of Colorado State University)

“This project was beneficial to students because they learned to work as a team while getting real-life experience,” says Brian Dunbar, director for the Institute for the Built Environment. Dunbar taught Sustainable Technology in Built Environment, the class that participated in the project.

Currently, students and industry partners are working on the renovation of the Industrial Sciences Building. Originally constructed for work in mechanical engineering, it now serves the Department of Construction Management. The $3.2-million project is being funded by donations from several Colorado firms: G.H. Phipps Construction Cos., Haselden Construction, Saunders Construction Inc., PCL Construction and GE Johnson Construction Co.

CSU Construction Management Department head Mostafa Khattab instills a high level of professionalism in his construction students. (Photo courtesy of Colorado State University)

“The common theme among all these companies is how industry and the university can work together to benefit the construction management program and, ultimately, the students who will come through the program uniquely prepared in this collaborative model,” says April Mason, dean of the College of Applied Human Sciences.