Annual Report 2006

Mark Benjamin, President

The mission of the American Council for Construction Education, being a leading global advocate and promoting quality construction education programs, continues to be the focus of the efforts of our Council.  In 2006, we executed a reciprocal agreement with the National Board for Construction Management Accreditation of the People’s Republic of China.  The agreement, signed in Milwaukee, WI in July, is the culmination of many years’ efforts of ACCE and joins the workings of two bodies with like minds and efforts — two large countries which will continue to grow their influence in the construction industry around the world.  China joins ACCE along with the Chartered Institute of Builders (CIOB) from the UK, all embracing the need for continued promotion of quality construction education on a global basis.  ACCE is proud of this opportunity to be part of the globalization of construction and a part of promoting quality education for this most important economic generator for our world.

In addition to this agreement with China, we are continuing our global work, having sent a representative to Canada to further study their accreditation system as it relates to construction in the post-secondary field, and have scheduled a team to go to Australia on our initial accreditation visit to the University of South Australia in Adelaide.  These efforts are supported by the volunteers of ACCE.

As quality becomes a more challenging endeavor, we held our first day-long Visiting Team Chair training in July.  The increasing complexities of the various programs accredited by ACCE require our Visiting Teams to increase their knowledge of the process and to lead our Teams with a high level of training.  We will continue this effort on an annual basis.

We have begun discussions with the Project Management Institute (PMI), in accepting the management component of our curriculum as meeting their standards and requirements for accreditation from the PMI Global Accreditation Center.  PMI, with over 200,000 members around the world, has an impact in many careers and is most interested in creating an emphasis in construction.  This would allow our programs to be included in PMI’s global presence.  This work is early in its development.

Globalization within ACCE was again a topic, as we were brought in to be a part of the formation of the Victor L. Regnier Traveling Fellowship for Construction Science.  Victor A. Regnier, a professor with USC in Architecture wanted to set up a fellowship is his father’s name, to provide a recent construction science grad the opportunity to further his/her personal education with a grant of $20,000 to travel abroad with a self-directed study program.  Professor Regnier asked ACCE to establish the administration and process to accomplish such a program.  With the processes established, a website created and a jury team in place, the Fellowship began notifying ACCE programs being the exclusive source of graduate-required applicants for this special opportunity.  The first recipient was a recent graduate from California Polytechnic-San Luis Obispo.  Joe Karten is currently living in Madrid, pursuing his topic of Green-Building and environmental sustainability through construction, with a look at the various methods used around the world.  Joe’s travels have seen him in Mexico, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy.  What a life-changing experience for this young man!  Joe is scheduled to be our guest speaker at lunch on March 2 for our Mid-year meeting in Charleston.

The second annual competition for the Regnier Traveling Fellowship has been broadly communicated, and the deadline for applications is February 2, 2007.

Last year, we completed our 5-year progress report for CHEA, the agency which recognizes our Council as an accreditor.  Since then, we have received a positive review of our progress and look forward to our application for re-recognition in 2011, work beginning in 2009.

As part of the CHEA responsibility and to hold ourselves to the same quality we expect of our programs, ACCE continues to emphasize our self-evaluation within the Council.  The self-evaluation task force is working with each committee to evaluate itself.  Tools are being developed within each committee to evaluate their individual performance on an annual basis.  I have implemented monthly calls with the Council Vice President and the Executive Vice President to maintain movement on all topics of importance, and to identify opportunities for future work by the Council.  I have continued the work of the Executive Committee with conference calls between our regularly-scheduled meetings, again, to identify topics which need additional attention throughout the year.

We are continuing our work with the National Housing Endowment (NHE) in developing a RFP-process to award monies to construction education programs which will develop or increase in their curriculum a residential component, with the goal of increasing the graduates who pursue careers in residential construction.  The H.E.L.P. program is a large component of the NHE investment in the future of the residential construction companies which are the financial supporters of the Endowment.

For the last 15 months, we carried through with our once-in-three-years document review and change process.  Several changes were made to our By-laws and our Procedure Manual, as well as our standards for Oral/Written communications and Ethics requirements.  This process is long, and laborious, with several opportunities for participation of all involved stake-holders.  We appreciate all the work by the variety of members and thank everyone for their comments and support.  The process works, and allows ACCE to maintain its standards at high levels, with a current perspective on the needs of industry and academia.

As part of the Long Range Planning Committee’s vision, a task force to investigate the feasibility of a recognition/accreditation program for Master’s Degree programs in Construction Management has moved into the next phase of their work – a pilot study.  Clemson University and the University

of Washington will be evaluated this spring as a part of the total evaluation of the concept.  Dr. Bill Barnes of Southern Polytechnic State University (Georgia) and Dr. Jim Smith of Texas A & M have volunteered to be a visitor embedded in the normal Visiting Team, dedicated to evaluate the master degree program at each of the universities and advise the task force as to the draft standards and the process developed by the task force.  Bill and Jim will report their findings and experiences at our annual meeting in July.

We continued our work in support of the AIC Certification Commission, first - with support from the many programs which include the AC exam as part of their curriculum  - and second - the on-going work of the Commission in adapting their standards to the continued feedback from our programs and our presence on the Advisor’s Board.  We encourage each of you to maintain communication through ACCE or directly with Roger Liska, the Commission Chair.

Carol Kueker, the representative from the NAWIC Education Foundation passed away in February 2006.  Carol was a strong supporter of quality education and the tie between ACCE and the educational efforts of NAWIC.  Carol is missed by many of us and will be remembered for her hard work and dedication.  During this fiscal year, Mike Holland and I began a concerted effort to increase the communications between ACCE and the construction industry.  The goal was to create a more informed industry liaison and to provide more encouragement for industry participation with the Industry Advisory Boards (IAB) of the local programs, and ACCE on a national basis.  We made presentations to a broad group including the American Subcontractor Association, NAWIC Presidents’ Leadership Training, ACE Mentoring of Los Angeles, and 6 program IABs.  Everyone gained from the information presented.  We will continue to make ourselves available to interested and connected parties, continuing to support our mission and our programs.

As part of the continuing commitment to promote construction education, the National office has been successful in developing a San Antonio affiliate of the ACE Mentoring Program.  The program has 2 high school teams coupled with 2 professional/mentor teams in their first year.  The 60 students and the 15+ professionals are enjoying the experience, looking to complete the year and begin the 2nd year in September 2007.

On the membership side, we welcome the Surety Information Office and Marla McIntyre as a new Association Member.  It is the dedication and commitment of organizations like SIO which founded our Council and continue to support ACCE. 

During our fiscal year, 2005-2006, we welcomed Missouri State University and Weber State University as our newest accredited 4-year programs.  We gained a candidate in Texas State University as well.  In addition to these initial accreditations, the Accreditation Committee considered 8 applications for reaccreditation and 34 progress reports.  This was a good year for the Accreditation Committee and the Board of Trustees is working hard to support our mission of quality construction education.

The Council has been successful in most issues it faced this past year. The one area that needs our collective focus is increasing our connection with more Industry Associations and contracting firms. Your suggestions and help in this matter are much appreciated.

Respectfully,

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