The Constructor - Spring 2014 Newsletter of the Boise State University Department of Construction Management Newsletter of the Boise State University Department of Construction Management

Message from the Chair:

This year has been a busy one for the Construction Manage-ment program here at Boise State. As you will see as you read through this newsletter work has been going on with two significant projects, the Associated Schools of Construc-tion student competition in Reno as well as the regular activi-ties of student life.

During the fall semester there were some personnel shifts that occurred with Rebecca Mirsky moving into the position of Interim Associate Dean for the College of Engineering. Tony Songer was able to move into a faculty position where he now has more time to work on some projects that are of great interest to him. At the end of the fall semester Rebecca was given yet another job to do, that of Interim Chair for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Even with all the demands on her time she will be offering a prep

course for the LEED Green Associate exam in April. Infor-mation on this may be found in this newsletter.

In December we held our traditional graduation ceremony for our 10 graduates. It is at this ceremony that our graduates receive their hard hats, once again supplied by support for the Construction Management Alumni Association to whom we express our thanks.

As we moved into spring the Reno Competition became the focus of our world. Later in this newsletter there are a list of contributors who helped to make it possible for our students to participate in this competition. We greatly appreciate your support and want to let you know we could not continue to participate in this event without your help. We sent seven teams to the competition this year and the Design-build team brought home a first place trophy.

Robert Hamilton, PhD, PE Associate Professor and Chair Department of Construction Management

Congratulations to the Fall 2013 Graduates!

LEED Green Associate Exam Preparation — April 12-13, 2014, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

In this two-day class you will learn about core concepts of green building and fundamentals of the LEED 2009 rating systems to help you prepare for the LEED Green Associate Exam – the first step in becoming an accredited LEED pro-fessional.

Instructor: Dr. Rebecca Mirsky

Dates: April 12-13, 2014

Boise State Campus—MEC106

Visit extendedstudies.boisestate.edu/cpd/leed-green-prep for more details.

Students Manage Project to Help Injured Youth By: Ralph Poore

Student volunteers from the Boise State Construction Man-agement Association (CMA) have helped give injured Kuna High School football player Boone Bartlome a new space to hang out with his friends.

In the process of helping make it easier for Bartlome to get around his home and spend time out-doors in a wheelchair, CMA members also received a lot of

practical learning in managing a construction project and working with professionals and other volunteers.

Bartlome returned to Kuna on Feb. 20 after spending three months at Denver’s Craig Hospital, which specializes in rehabilitation for pa-tients with spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries. But the construc-tion project on his home, which relied on volunteer labor, had not yet been completed. The volunteers continue to work on the project that is scheduled to be completed by mid-March.

Before he broke his neck during a state high school playoff game last November, Bartlome used to hang out with his friends in the second-floor bonus room of his family’s home.

To give him a new hangout space, volunteers built a 300-square-foot addition to his bedroom that provides Bartlome a rehab workout equipment area and a wheelchair friendly bathroom. Volunteers have added wheelchair ramps and wood floors that make it easy for Bartlome to move around his home.

“Boone is a really outdoorsy kid,” said Danny Hinson, the project manager and a Boise State junior from Southern California. So the volunteers built a large concrete pad to give Bartlome an outdoor space.

“The volunteers really wanted to see Boone get in his new space and enjoy what we’ve built,” Hinson said. “I and most of the other work-ers on the project had never met Bartlome, but hearing his story was enough to motivate us.”

Managing a project that uses volunteer labor offered the construction management students several challenges. Around 100 volunteers worked on the project.

“One of the challenges is time management of volunteer labor,” said Casey Cline, assistant professor of construction management and CMA faculty advisor. Construction managers usually schedule con-tractors as they are needed on a project. “But when you are working

with volunteer contractors, you have to play by their game,” he said. “For example, one contractor called and said ‘I need to come now,’” even though he wasn’t immediately needed.

Another challenge showed the community’s concern for Bartlome. More people volunteered to help than could be efficiently used. So a number of people had to be turned away. Donations paid almost 100 percent of the cost of the project.

Although it was a volunteer project, CMA approached the work on Bartlome’s home as though it were a service learning class. The stu-dents developed estimates, created project schedules, created a project binder, received approval to proceed from Cline, worked with sub-contractors, tracked job changes, wrote daily job and safety reports, filled out time cards, prepared safety audit sheets and took turns su-pervising work.

CMA has about 60 members and is the Boise State student chapter of the Association of General Contractors. It has been around for about 30 years.

CMA Members begin framing in the roof portion of the addition for injured Kuna football player Boone Bartlome. Bartlome suffered a severe back injury on November 9th during a playoff game between Kuna High School and Bishop Kelly High School

“I and most of the other workers on the project had never met Bartlome, but hearing his story was enough to motivate us.” - Danny Hinson, CMA Project Manager

While many students will be heading to fun recreation spots during spring break, a group of Boise State construction man-agement and history students will be helping preserve the Minidoka National Historic Site.

The students will erect a historical reconstruction of one of the eight original guard towers that surrounded the bounda-ries of the residential and administrative areas of the reloca-tion center.

Idaho’s Minidoka National Historic Site, in Jerome County near Twin Falls, was one of the largest and most remote Japa-nese American relocation compounds during World War II and was one of 10 relocation centers during the war. More than 120,000 United States citizens of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated during the war, an act now recognized as a viola-tion of civil liberties.

The first Japanese-Americans arrived at Minidoka on Aug. 10, 1942. At its peak the relocation center held nearly 9,000 peo-ple, making it the seventh-largest city in Idaho. Today, Minidoka is a National Historic Site managed by the National Park Service (NPS).

Students built the tower as completely as possible in the con-struction management highbay lab. They partially decon-structed the tower in order to transport it to Minidoka on March 22. At Minidoka, the students com-pleted the tower’s construction and placed it on its foundation.

Thirteen students enrolled during fall se-mester to work on the initial project plan-ning while learning about the historical con-text of the incarceration and the political and social factors that contributed to it.

Members of the Construction Management Association (CMA), an Associated General Contractors (AGC) student group, also are assisting in the process. The entire structure is being managed and built by students with faculty supervision — from estimates and orders for materials to final construc-tion.

The plan is to have the tower ready in time for June’s annual Minidoka Pilgrimage, where there will be an official dedica-tion of the guard tower structure.

The NPS awarded the Friends of Minidoka a $280,378, 2-for-1 matching grant for the project through the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program. The guard tower reconstruction is a collabora-tive project between the Friends of Minidoka, the National Park Service, Boise State’s Department of Construction Man-agement and Department of History, and the CMA. Cole Architects and Axiom En-gineering of Boise volunteered their time and efforts to develop plans for the guard tower by using historic photographs.

Organizers hope the reconstruction will draw further atten-tion to the Minidoka story and increase interest in preserva-tion efforts.

Students Preserve Minidoka Site History By: Ralph Poore

Students construct the room and apply weather sealant on the ground. Once dry, the structure was placed on the supports.

Above: The replica tower stands over the NHS marker. Right: Students work together to raise the tower supports.

http://www.minidoka.org/ http://minidokapilgrimage.wordpress.com/ http://minidokaguardtower.weebly.com/

  Thank you to our Generous Sponsors It takes thousands of dollars and hundreds of man-hours to prepare and send teams to the ASC Region 6 & 7 competitions in Reno, NV. The Faculty of the Department of Construction Management would like to thank each of the following for their support of this important student experience. Congratulations to our Design Build team on their 1st Place Finish!

Platinum Sponsors: Anderson Construction Company Beniton Construction Company

Engineered Structures, Inc. Granite Construction Company

McMillian, LLC.

Gold Sponsors: McCarthy Building Companies

Cloverdale Plumbing CM Company

Kiewit Energy Group, Inc.