PAC-sponsored
Fall Meet & Greet
To kick off the new school year, the Program Advisory Committee (PAC) invited alumni and current CMGT/PMGT students to attend on September 14, 2022, the first meeting of the PAC Board for the Academic Year 2022 –23. This early evening event was followed by a Meet & Greet gathering that began with an ice-breaker Bingo card to introduce people to each other. Food and drink also help the conversations between students, alumni and industry. PAC Board members represented a handful of local companies, including McGough, Mortenson, Ryan Cos, B.L. Dalsin Roofing. A long-time PAC member, Brad Kruse, Senior Estimator with Mortenson, was given an award from the ACCE (American Council for Construction Education) the accrediting organization that certifies Dunwoody’s Construction AAS and bachelor’s degrees.
PAC-sponsored Industry Panel on Procurement
On November 9, 2022, the PAC sponsored an industry panel discussion for Dunwoody Construction Management students and alumni. The topic of the event was “Procurement in a Post-pandemic World.”
Moderator for the panel discussion was Tim Worke. Worke is the CEO for the Associated General Contractors of Minnesota. AGC of Minnesota is the state’s oldest and largest commercial contracting trade association with over 400 members statewide representing both building and transportation infrastructure market sectors.
Panelists that day included John Gerlach, Weekes Forest Products; Brad Kruse, Mortenson; Nate Ruppert, Lennar; Bret Nygaard, Lennar; and Britta Ryan, Ryan Companies.
The range of questions asked of the panelists included: “What has it been like ramping up back to pre-pandemic production levels? In summer 2021, there were some construction suppliers that were so backed up that they stopped shipping. Have you experienced anything like that? How do you handle predicting costs when the design isn’t even complete? How do you handle recommending to an owner a substitution that will help get the project completed more quickly?” Many other questions were asked by students and participants and the overall feeling was the topic was timely and had good feedback.
PAC Board
Over the last year, the Dunwoody Construction Management PAC grew a great deal. We saw a significant increase in both the number of members and where those members come from within the industry.
The PAC engaged with students during a networking event, a Q&A panel regarding procurement challenges, and judged student presentations. Our goal is to continue to provide guidance to the college and ensure PMGT & CMGT students are being provided relevant information within their programs and are ready for the industry upon graduation.
A major item for the PAC to work through for the next school year is to work on providing materials for students to understand how the various building systems work with each other.
We welcome industry professionals to join our PAC if you have an interest in helping with the continuous improvement of Dunwoody’s Construction Management Programs.
̵ Matt Hackman, Brett Frantti; Co-chairs Dunwoody CMGT PAC