UALR magazine
Spring/Summer 2007 • Vol. 3 No. 1
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Measuring Up
UALR’s Construction Management Program entered a team in the heavy/civil division of the National Construction Management Competition for the first time this year to see how it stacked up against those from other universities.
Of no surprise to the folks affiliated with the program, UALR’s team brought home the bacon: third place in the Super Bowl of competition for construction management educational programs.
“It was sweet satisfaction to win!” said Lisa Bishop, a member of the UALR team. Only six female students competed in the heavy/civil category, which consists of highways, dams, airports, bridges and other non-building structures, at the national level, and three of them were on the UALR team.
Sponsored by the Association of Schools of Construction and the Associated General Contractors, the contest included more than 240 universities in seven regional competitions, with first place teams moving to the national round in San Antonio.
“At the regional level in Dallas, we beat some of the largest and best-funded construction management schools in the South — Texas A&M University, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Oklahoma,” Bishop said. “And at the national level in March, we beat some of the best construction management schools in the country — Auburn University, Brigham Young, and the University of Nebraska.” Other teams vying for the category title were Oregon State University, Pennsylvania College of Technology, and the University of Cincinnati.
The UALR team members, who were coached by Professor Mike Tramel, are all enrolled in the Construction Management Program and work full time. Bishop and Waylon Corley work for Nabholz Construction; Kevin Young and Jeremy Land work for AFCO Steel; Miyoshi Stringer works at Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department; and Angel Corley works for PDC Construction. Waylon Corley, Bishop, and Young were team leaders.
“I participated in the competition because highway construction interests me,” Young said. “The idea of the competition sounded exciting, plus I like being around people smarter than me. I think we have some incredibly talented people in the construction management program and especially on our competition team.”
Young said he took a leadership role on the team because of his Air National Guard experience since 1999. “The Guard has taught me to always think like a leader no matter what position I am in.”
In preparation for the contest, UALR’s team first attended last year’s event. “It was a learning experience,” Bishop said. “We didn’t know what to expect, but we learned what we needed to do to win.”
Over the past year, they consulted with professionals in the industry to learn the tools of the trade. Personnel from the Kiewit Southern Company, which specializes in heavy/civil construction, met with the team numerous times to help them hone their skills in highway construction.
Granite Construction Co. of California, sponsor of the national competition, selected the construction problem — a $14.6 million Whitewater River Bridge Project. Teams had to develop a plan to elevate a 1,100-foot section of roadway over the Whitewater River Channel.
To complicate the task, the team was confined to a hotel room with only the project problem binder and a set of plans and specifications — without Internet access or telephones from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Professor Tramel said, “Granite Construction commented at the awards dinner that this was UALR’s first time at the nationals and how impressed they were that we took third place. UALR can truly be proud of the hard work and dedication of the heavy/civil competition team.”
“I learned a great deal from the competition,” Young said. “We used concepts we learned from every class in the Construction Management Program and applied them to a real world scenario. We used our education in estimating, scheduling, construction administration, contracts, field operations, and drawing interpretation and applied it during this competition.”
Recruited to AFCO by a fellow teammate, Young said, “If it were not for the Construction Management Program and this competition, I would not have the job I have today,” adding that is just the beginning of the benefits from his degree.
After returning from San Antonio, team members have been recruited by national construction firms. However, the UALR team representatives said they are looking to enhance their careers by staying in the Little Rock area because of their dedication to further improve infrastructure in Arkansas and to promote the bachelor’s degree program at UALR.
“I think any student who obtains a construction management degree has a very bright future in the industry,” Young added.