Curriculum and Coursework

Program Tracks

Commercial Construction

This track is focused on commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings. It is the most generalized construction management track for the student hoping to enter the broader construction field as a contractor, subcontractor, or staff member on the owner's side. This track comprises a 2 credit foundation course, 19 required credits, including Building Energy Systems, Building Envelope Design, and Materials and Structures I and II, and 6 credits of electives.

Commercial Construction Coursework

Foundation Course

This track benefits students interested in careers in the transportation and highway/heavy-civil works project area by tailoring the elective offerings toward civil engineering construction. It comprises a 2 credit foundation course, 11 required credits, including Transportation Engineering, Surveying, Construction Accounting, and Materials and Structures, and 14 elective credits.

Highway Heavy and Civil Works Coursework

Foundation Course 

Required Courses

Residential Construction

This track enables students to specialize in residential single or multifamily projects and expand their building science basis specifically to housing applications, while maintaining a strong management orientation. It comprises a 2 credit foundation course, 22 credits, including Systems Approach to Residential Construction, Advanced Residential Building Science, and Building Testing and Diagnostics, and 5 elective credits.

Residential Construction Coursework

Foundation Courses

Required Courses

Certifications in the Program

Several courses in the Construction Management program include or prepare students to sit for additional external certifications or examinations, and these are integrated in their learning outcomes.

CMGT 4031: Construction Safety & Loss Control − OSHA 30-Hour Certificate

Since fall 2004 the Construction Safety & Loss Control class has included OSHA certification as part of the course learning objectives. The 30-hour certification has been offered since fall 2009.

• Fall 2023 – 15 students completed the certification
• Spring 2024 – 20 students completed the certification

CMGT 4081: Managing Erosion and Sediment Control on Construction Sites − Construction Site Management Stormwater Certification

Integrated in this course since its launch in 2012, students taking CMGT 4081 take the Construction Site Management Stormwater Certification as part of their course assessments. This credential is offered through the University of Minnesota Erosion and Stormwater Management Program in partnership with MPCA and MnDOT. 

• Spring 2025 – 20 students completed the certification

CMGT 4861: Construction Management Capstone − Construction Manager in Training (CMIT)

Since 2013, students taking the capstone class, CMGT 4861, can receive extra credit if they take the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) Construction Manager in Training (CMIT) certification exam.

Three-Year Course Reviews

The program aims to review Construction Management courses every three years to determine development needs and to maintain curriculum quality. Additional course reviews may occur if a course has undergone a major redevelopment. A full description of program quality assessment is given in Appendix 1: Quality Improvement Plan.

Currently course-reviews are on hiatus as they move from staff-led to faculty-director-led reviews. As subject experts faculty directors are best placed to lead these reviews of curriculum.

Liberal Education Requirements (LE)

The College of Continuing and Professional Studies’ Bachelor of Applied Science majors follow the University of Minnesota’s Liberal Education (LE) requirements.

The LE requirements are split into two sections: the Diversified Core, the “why” and “how” of different academic disciplines, and the Designated Themes, topics central to an understanding of contemporary life. Each section is subdivided into several areas, and the University maintains a list of courses approved to fulfill one of the LE areas (see Liberal Education Requirements). Students are required to satisfy all seven core requirements and four of the five designated themes.

University of Minnesota − Liberal Education Requirements

Writing Enriched Curriculum

In addition to the requirement for Writing Intensive courses, the Construction Management program is also part of the University of Minnesota Writing Enriched Curriculum (WEC) initiative. This University-wide project, launched in 2007 with generous support from the Bush Foundation, provides a process for meaningfully infusing discipline-specific writing and writing instruction into all undergraduate curricula. 

The WEC project, supported by the Office of Undergraduate Education, enrolls five additional undergraduate units each year and will continue to do so until all undergraduate majors are engaged. Find further information at CMGT WEC program information. The CMGT Writing Plan is available on the same website. The Construction Management program joined the sixth WEC cohort in June 2011 and has actively continued to develop the Writing Enriched Curriculum initiative. Accomplishments to date include:

• Publication of our construction-specific online writing style guide Writing for Construction Managers: A Guide to Content and Style soft-launched in January 2015 and is now linked to every CMGT course website and, where applicable, to specific assignment guidelines. This website is reviewed annually for updates and shared with faculty from around the country as a reference.
• The third edition of the Writing Plan was approved by the Campus Writing Board and the Provost in July 2015. This phase developed targeted approaches around a “Teaching with Writing” theme targeted to new faculty and existing faculty as a training tool and the integration of writing rubrics into targeted assignments. While we continue to focus our efforts on writing across our curriculum, we have not undertaken any grants available. The work is ongoing to best integrate writing rubrics into all of our courses.
• A Legacy Writing Plan was encouraged and applied for, however the application was tabled by WEC in favor of other, more needy programs than ours at the time since our program is on a solid footing.
• As a direct result of the WEC initiative in our program, former grad student Ms. Heidi Wagner and Peter Hilger have completed a substantial draft of their textbook on writing within the industry, and are currently working with publishing options and a hoped for publication in 2025.