Update from 2020 ACCE ANNUAL MEETING

August 3, 2020

Howdy folks!

We just completed the first-ever ACCE Conference that was 100% virtual! There was a total of 269 individuals that registered for the Conference – an all-time high! All of our meetings and training sessions were conducted via the Zoom technology. Although there were some minor occasions of user error (mine), each meeting and training session was held and completed as planned. All of our business decisions were completed, and now it is time to move forward with the direction we have from the Board of Trustees. Here is a recap of the Conference in more detail.
July 17 –
• Visiting Team Chair Training was facilitated by John Schaufelberger. 63 people attended the training session.
July 20 –
• New Attendee Orientation was facilitated by Steve Nellis and John Schaufelberger. 84 individuals attended the orientation session.
• Initial Team Member Training was facilitated by Dr. Albert Blakeley. 106 people attended this training session. Now the challenge will be to get the willing and able individuals on a Visiting Team.
• The Visiting Team Case Studies session was facilitated by Dr. Rebecca Burleson, and there were 146 at this session! I learned many things from this session. Becky does a great job facilitating the Visiting Team Case Studies session.
• The Accreditation Committee's Open Session was attended by 99 individuals. Topics that were discussed:
 Dr. Craig Capano, Chair of the Council of Chairs, discussed the findings of their review of surveys from the Visiting Teams. Generally, the feedback:
- Was very positive about our new OneDrive system for the accreditation documents delivery and review;
- That SLO 9 continues to be a challenge for the programs and visiting teams;
- A request for a standard template for the visiting teams' time while on campus visit was discussed, and,
- The concordance document should be updated based on current conditions.
 There were several Progress Reports / Master's Degree Program Annual Reports that did not have the summary section on the first page filled out. This information is required. Reports that did not have data, in summary, will be returned as unacceptable, and the Program will need to re-submit their report.
 Due to the COVID situation, we completed our first-ever virtual campus visit. The Visiting Team for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the Program's faculty were well prepared for their visit to be held on March 22nd – 24th. However, on March 17, the decision was made that we would suspend further teams from traveling to campuses. The Team Chair, Dr. Cheryel Goodale, pursued the completion of the visit by researching and introducing the concept of a virtual tour. Bottom line – we were able to complete the visit in a manner that satisfied the leaders at ACCE, given that we are in the COVID pandemic. We also learned that for future visits, we could adjust our logistics based on the current conditions so that we could continue our work and accredit programs.
We all appreciate and applaud the efforts of Dr. Sajjad Ahmad and his UNLV staff along with Cheryel Goodale and the members of the visiting team, Joe Fradella of Oregon State University, Rod Hammett from Hensel Phelps, Dr. Francois Jacobs of the University of Wyoming along with Dr. Craig Capano. He came into the game in the fourth quarter! What a fantastic job they accomplished!
 Before the Open Session of the Accreditation Committee, the Committee met in their Closed Session. During their session, they discussed a record amount of 34 various reports! Their workload will taper off to a mere 20 reports this coming semester. It'll feel like a vacation for Dr. Khalid Siddiqi's dedicated members of the Accreditation Committee!
July 21 –
• Advanced Team Member Training was facilitated by Dr. Lloyd Crask for Cal State, Fresno. 98 individuals participated in this training session. Great way to get started for a Spring semester that will have 11 visits!
• The Dupree Education Fund Committee was chaired by Rogers Hunt. 22 individuals attended. Items discussed were:
 The announcement of awarding two scholarships for $5,000 each. The winners are both Tigers from Clemson University - Carla Robinson will receive the National Housing Endowment's scholarship for practitioner faculty that are pursuing their academic construction career in teaching residential construction courses, and Cayla Anderson will receive the Dupree Education Fund scholarship.
 The Dupree Committee also received $1,485 in donations from individuals that registered for the ACCE Annual Conference. In case you missed the opportunity to be a donor, we will be promoting the contributions on our future conference registration web sites.
• The Finance Committee is chaired by the Board Treasurer, Pam Dullum. 23 individuals joined the meeting, including our CPA, Susan Woodruff. We reviewed the past fiscal year's spent versus budget report and the proposed FYE 2021 annual budget. The Committee agreed to move forward with the proposed budget and ask the Board of Trustees for their approval. ACCE is in solid financial shape, and we are moving forward with our plans to grow.
• The Associate's Degree Caucus was facilitated by Dr. Rod Stutt of Saskatchewan Polytechnic. 23 individuals participated in discussions that mainly were concerning the new workforce education accreditation initiative.
• The Bachelor's Degree caucus was facilitated by Dr. Robert Ries of the University of Florida. 98 individuals attended the session. They had a guest speaker, Bill Good from the National Roofing Alliance, discuss their new roofing courses/curriculum that has been implemented at Clemson University. Other discussions were led by Dr. Robert Hamilton regarding student learning outcomes in small programs, and there were round table discussions about how COVID-19 has impacted the academic world and the changes that were made along with plans for future courses.

July 22 –
• The Guidance Committee meeting was facilitated by Dr. John Schmidt. 78 people attended. The meeting started with the discussion of Mentors, and Dr. Schmidt proceeded to provide details of what and how the Mentor Program will be operating. He then announced that everyone present had just completed Mentor Training and were now eligible to be selected volunteers as a Mentor. Dr. Schmidt also discussed our Program Candidates, and we will be assigning Mentors for each of them. Quarterly reports will be requested. Also, we have over 20 Prospect programs (programs that have an initial interest in ACCE) that will be assigned a Mentor to help them with their decisions to move forward with being accredited by ACCE.
• The Training Committee meeting was facilitated by Chair Dr. Albert Bleakley. With 61 attendees, the discussion was about how we can use our newly learned experiences with virtual technology to have quarterly meetings for the Committee and how to develop various training programs that would be beneficial for our constituents, both practitioners and educators. We are also looking at creating a training program for upcoming accreditation visits that would provide the Program Leader with valuable assistance for the Self-Evaluation Study and SLO preparations.
• Industry Caucus Meeting was chaired by Joy Svoboda. 66 people attended the session. The primary focus of the meeting was to select three individuals to represent the industry on the Board of Trustees. There was a slate of six people that were eligible to be an industry representative on the Board. The three persons that were selected are James "Geno" Hogan, Susan Labas, and Tanya Matthews. They would be presented by Cheryel Goodale, Chair of the Leadership Committee, as the Industry Board Member candidates.
July 23 –
• 121 individuals attended the Standards Committee. It was chaired, for the last time in his illustrious career, by Dr. Abdol Chini, from the University of Florida. He had many challenges as the Chair of the Committee, and that included this meeting. He has been leading our efforts to adjust the Standards to meet the new CHEA requirements as well as to simplify the accreditation process. He facilitated many debates, and today the Committee came to a resolution of the new standards that would be recommended for approval by the Board.
The draft version of the new Document 103 is on web site and available for review and public comments. See the screenshot below to gain access to the draft document and the web page for you to post your comments and feedback.

Abdol may be retiring from his professional career and from ACCE, but as long as he has the shirt that I gave him, he will still be a resource for all of us. And I will be glad to replace the shirt should Abdol ever have a reason to do so!
• Marketing and Communications (M&C) Committee Meeting was chaired by Joy Svoboda. Agenda topics included an overview of the initiatives the Committee has been working on, how to gain more sponsors for ACCE, and the strategic plan initiatives that the Committee has been assigned. Also, the Committee will start to invite members from the Dupree Education Fund Committee and the Recognition Committee to their periodic meetings so that the M&C Committee can assist with marketing their efforts for more donations and programs to be recognized.
• The Recognition Committee was chaired by Tammy Crooks. There were 39 people that attended the meeting. The Committee has been working diligently since February as they reviewed and approved three new programs for ACCE Recognition and would present them to the Executive Committee for final approval on July 24. They are for the National Women in Construction (NAWIC) Education Foundation (NEF).
1. Construction Industry Technician
2. Construction Bookkeeping Technician
3. Construction Document Technician
The Committee's work is not done yet. The Committee has two additional programs to review. Also, we are designing a new service of recognizing expert users of a computer software company via their testing program. In attendance at the meeting was a new company called MTCopeland. Their business model is to produce online tutorials and courses for skilled workforce development. They are interested in partnering with ACCE with their efforts.
Committee member Bill Good announced their new three roofing courses that are being offered at Clemson University.
July 24-
• The Executive Committee was chaired by Dr. John Schaufelberger. 63 individuals attended the meeting. The Committee approved the Dupree Education Fund Committee's request to bestow the two scholarships for $5,000 each, approved the three new ACCE Recognized Programs for the NAWIC Education Fund, and led the discussion of the task force researching the Apprenticeship Accreditation Program and their efforts and deliverables that were available. The list of ACCE future conferences was identified on the agenda.
 2021 Midyear Conference and IAB Event, February 23-26, 2021, Irving, TX
 2021 Annual Conference, July 21-23, 2021 Minneapolis, MN
 2022 Midyear Conference and IAB Event, February 22-25, 2022, Irving, TX
• It was a jam-packed open session of the Board of Trustees meeting with 104 individuals in attendance. It started with the announcement of eight new reaccreditations. The programs that were each granted six additional years of ACCE accreditation are:
 Alfred State College
 Auburn University
 California Baptist University
 California State University, Fresno
 The Ohio State University
 University of North Florida
 University of Nevada, Las Vegas
 Utica College
Congratulations on all of these programs!!
 
Other Board of Trustees actions that were completed include:
• The approval of four accreditation extensions for:
 California State University, Northridge
 Columbus State Community College
 Eastern Michigan University
 North Dakota State University
• The approval of the ACCE budget for FYE 2021.
• The confirmation of the Committee Rosters for the 2020-2021 academic year.
• The discussion and approval of our new Committee that the Apprenticeship Accreditation Task Force has initiated for us. Dr. Mostafa Khattab and Dave Davia from the Rocky Mountain Mechanical Contractors Association worked tirelessly to assemble the documents needed to establish the first procedure and accreditation for an apprenticeship program. They will be the first Program to be accredited under the purview of the new Construction Workforce Education (CWE) Committee.
Work has started immediately after the Board meeting as we have established that Bill Good will be the Chair of the CWE Committee and Dr. Khattab will be the Vice-Chair of the CWE Committee. Other members of the Committee are being selected now so that we can move quickly with this new initiative. We have huge industry support and need for our efforts in this new accreditation service and believe that this team will lead us to be the national and global leader in construction education. Thank you to RMMCA for being the leader of this new venture for ACCE!
• The Chair of the Leadership Committee, Dr. Cheryel Goodale, presented a slate of new trustees for the Board’s approval. The following individuals were approved to join our Board and elected to continue their positions as officers.
 Board Officer, Secretary - Richard Burt, two-year term
 Board Officer, Treasurer – Pam Dullum, two-year term
 Educator-at-Large – Dr. Mikael Anderson, California State University, Sacramento
 Educator-at-Large – Dr. Chris Gordon, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
 Educator-at-Large - Dr. Anthony Lamanna, Arizona State University
 Industry Member - James "Geno" Hogan, Individual Member
 Industry Member – Susan Labas, Individual Member
 Industry Member – Tanya Matthews, CMG Constructors
 Public At-Large – Ken Coggins, Garden Design Landscaping
 Public At-Large – Chip Mansfield, KAIROS Marketing, LLC
 Public At-Large – Sue Perlin, Plante Moran CPA (Retired)
 Sustaining Association Member – Dr. Mostafa Khattab, Rocky Mountain Mechanical Contractors Association
We welcome all of our new Board Trustees! Their new ACCE shirts will be delivered to them next week!
The last item we discussed was facilitated by the representative from CHEA, the Council of Higher Education Accreditation. CHEA is the organization that provides ACCE with official recognition as an accrediting council for construction related education programs. We are in the process of being re-recognized by CHEA, similar to one of our Construction Management programs applying for reaccreditation.
The CHEA representatives that are guiding ACCE through this process are Lori Schroeder and Dr. Karen Kershenstein. Lori has been reviewing our documents and Karen has been reviewing our procedures via attending our recent Conference. Karen attended the Accreditation Committee, Standards Committee, and Board of Trustees meetings. She provided some verbal advice for the Board that we will review and then determine how to implement her suggestions so that ACCE can continue to be the quality accreditation organization that we have become. Thank you, Karen, for your thoughts and suggestions!
OK. So you missed some of the sessions. Well, go to this ACCE Annual Conference web page. We have downloaded the Zoom recordings and all of the appurtenant documents to this web page. The links will take you to the OneDrive folder where all of these files are stored. Thanks to Chip for assembling all of the data and making it accessible for anyone interested in learning more about ACCE!
Chip has also set up some additional useful web pages for everyone. They include:
ACCE Marketing Collateral Materials
ACCE Logos and Brand Lines
ACCE Faculty Scholarships
And don't forget to go to the ACCE Store to purchase your very own ACCE shirt! They come in two styles – Nike golf shirt and long-sleeved denim. Each come in two different colors as well
Upcoming Accreditation Visits
Well, we just finished the most amazing and largest ACCE Conference! But we must keep on moving! Here are the programs that are scheduled for reaccreditation, along with one initial accreditation, for this Fall 2020.
 Arizona State University – Visiting Team Chair is Pam Dullum
 Georgia Southern University – Visiting Team Chair is Dr. John Schmidt
 Kennesaw State University – Visiting Team Chair is John Gaver
 Lansing Community College – Initial Accreditation – Visiting Team Chair is Dr. Rod Stutt
 Oregon State University – Visiting Team Chair is Dr. Souhail Elhouar
 Saskatchewan Polytechnic – Visiting Team Chair is Dr. Cheryel Goodale
 University of Wisconsin, Stout – Visiting Team Chair is Dr. Brian Wasserman
The teams have been established and are now in the process of being confirmed by the program leaders. The documents are loaded onto OneDrive and the teams will be reviewing them. We will need to determine exactly how to conduct the actual campus visit, as I like to say, at game time. The teams are set up so that most, if not all, of the members could drive to the campus, but only if the campus will be open for visitors. At "game time", we will review each visit and the travel / COVID circumstances to make a decision regarding the use of virtual technology as being a part or as the whole visit. At this time, all of the programs are planning on some sort of physical visit. Stay tuned.......
We will have a busy Spring for accreditation visits as well. These are the following programs that are being set up for reaccreditation visits now:
 Baton Rouge Community College – Associate's degree
 California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo – Bachelor's Degree
 California State University, Chico- Bachelor's Degree
 Central Washington University - Bachelor's Degree
 Illinois State University - Bachelor's Degree
 Louisiana State University – Master's Degree
 University of Houston - Bachelor's Degree
 University of Louisiana, Monroe - Bachelor's Degree
 University of Maryland, Eastern Shore - Bachelor's Degree
 University of Southern Mississippi - Bachelor's Degree
 Wentworth Institute of Technology – Master's Degree
Should you be interested in participating on one of these Visiting Teams, send me an email and we will coordinate the possible visit.
 
Marriott Hotels
Speaking of going on a team visit, we are still partners with Marriott Hotels for our hotel arrangements. All of the Fall visits and the dates have been sent to our representative, Brandis Gonzalez. She is working now to arrange hotels for each of the locations we are planning to conduct a visit. Brandis also mentioned that should you or an organization you are affiliated with need hotel assistance, feel free to contact her and she will provide the same offers that she does for ACCE. Her email address is hyperlinked here and her phone number is 214-548-7540. Thanks, Brandis!
Construction Management Research
We have a graduate student at Virginia Tech that has asked for assistance with his research project.
Johnson Olayiwola has created a survey to help with his research and it is open to all construction industry practitioners and educators. Here are the details that Johnson provided:
Participation in a study about providing site visits to construction engineering and management students. (IRB# 19-871) Study description: Several studies have provided scientific evidence that providing learners with field experiences (e.g. site visits) can enhance an understanding of the relationship between theory and practice. Site visits have the potential of stimulating students' interest in the domain knowledge and skills, while also enhancing their professional development. For students pursuing careers in the construction industry, one way of gaining field experience has been by physically observing the construction process and engaging with the site personnel. Such experiences are particularly beneficial as industry practitioners are constantly devising innovative methods and practices of delivering safer, quicker, and more sustainable projects, which students can learn from. To improve the quality of these site visits for you and your students, we are inviting you to participate in this study to seek your perspectives on the current trends and strategies for improving site visits.
It is estimated that this will take you or your designee 7 minutes to complete. If you choose to participate, please read and agree to the consent form before answering the questions. Your response to this questionnaire is highly valued and will be treated with strict confidence. The information provided will be used for academic purposes only. Thank you for your time and support.
Link to the survey: https://virginiatech.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_esQlnt8XYN6ydkp

Thanks for being a part of ACCE! Although we are in a challenging period of our lives, we can still keep ACCE moving forward in its mission to be the global leader for construction education.

Steve Nellis
President / CEO
American Council for Construction Education
300 Decker Drive
Suite 330
Irving, TX 75062
Steve.Nellis@ACCE-HQ.org
214-755-6105 (c)
972-600-8800 (o)
www.acce-hq.org