Built Environment Career Fair
The Built Environment Career Fair is held each year in October, and includes students in construction management, architecture, engineering, or interior design. In 2024 the fair was held at Coffman Union. Students met with employers, explored career opportunities, and had the option of a free headshot. 364 students attended the event in 2024. Prior to the event 40 students attended a career fair prep session.
The Career Fair is a successful event that generates positive feedback from employers each year, with 90% stating in 2020 that student preparation for the event was either good or excellent; 46% of students visited three or more employers. Most employers interview candidates for jobs or internships as a result of the career fair and collect resumes for review.
The 2025 Career Fair will take place on October 3, 2025.
Career Fair Statistics
| Event | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students, UMN | 94 | 151 | 138 | 215 | 364 |
| Students, Non-UMN | 25 | 46 | -- | 6 | -- |
| Total Students | 119 | 197 | 138 | 221 | 364 |
| Registered Employers | 34 | 63 | 60 | 71 | 70 |
| Universities Represented | 14 | 7 | -- | 5 | 2 |
Quiz Bowl
In conjunction with the Built Environment Career Fair, the University of Minnesota usually hosts the annual Intercollegiate Construction Management Quiz Bowl. In 2024 there was only a team from the University of Minnesota, with two students from Bemidji State, so the students were divided into two teams for a friendly competition best-of-five games.
Judges this year included Michelle McGuire, Andy Faulkner (class of '06), Ella Johnstad (class of '23 and awarding the JE Dunn Trophy), and Fidelis Emuze, visiting CM faculty from South Africa.
2024 Quiz Bowl Team winning team with judges
Merit International Business Competition
Merit is an international construction business competition sponsored by the UK Institution of Civil Engineers.
The competition is an online construction business simulation which generates realistic scenarios of a construction company’s business markets and conditions. A team of 4 students respond to the simulation and competitively manage a virtual company.
The Merit simulation has been designed to encourage the separation of team member responsibilities into different managerial functions to foster responsibility and teamworking, and the success or failure of the company will depend upon the effective interaction between the different team members.
In 2024 the University of Minnesota achieved 3rd place in the preliminary rounds and reached the finals.
The NAIOP University Challenge
Student teams researched and pitched redevelopments for the Plymouth Corporate Center. The teams have to prepare a development plan, construction timeline, budget, pro-forma, leasing plan and schedule, financing plan and market analysis. Teams submit a written proposal, and have 10 minutes to present their plan to the competition judges, who are industry experts.
Teams from five regional universities participated. The team from the University of Minnesota consisted of: Justus Ahlquist, Michael Barnes, Wesley Hsu, Joseph McCormick, and Bryce Riesner. The event was sponsored by the Opus Foundation.
The Pursuit Competition
Hosted by the Minnesota Construction Association, and sponsored by Ryan Companies, the Pursuit Competition is a capstone-level competition judged by an industry panel. Ryan Construction provides information on one of their buildings: schedules, costs, and technical details of plans, as well as staff support, and the students use these to create a proposal, hoping to “win” a contract much like in real life.
Nine universities that teach Construction Management—Wisconsin Stout, Minnesota State Moorhead, South Dakota State, North Dakota State, Wisconsin Stout, St. Cloud State, Dunwoody, University of Northern Iowa, and the University of Minnesota participate, each sending one team. In any given year, up to 250 students may be involved in the competition. Initially an informal event started by the University of Minnesota in 2014, the Pursuit Competition became a regional fixture in 2016.
The Pursuit Competition was won this year by the University of Minnesota team (the fourth time in 20 years). The team also won first place in the negotiation competition (Donavan Ohms), and both first place (Leah Cohen) and second place (AJ Fussy) in the Freeform Speaking competition.
Final Four: The Golden Pen Award
The Golden Pen is an annual event, now in its 19th year, for students in the CMGT 4041W Specifications and Technical Writing for Construction Professionals course. Student teams compete by writing a design build proposal for the Shoreview Library. The top four teams present their proposal before a “Building Committee” of industry judges comprising contractors, developers, bankers, public relations personnel, and IT experts. This committee selects the winning team, whose names are etched onto a plaque on the Final Four trophy.
Guest Speakers
During the academic year, program faculty invite professionals from varied areas of industry to attend class as guest lecturers and to judge student presentations, or participate through video lectures and interviews. This helps students gain a broader perspective of the field, providing value-added experience to the classroom. The following are some of the guest speakers hosted in Construction Management classes during the 2024–25 academic year. Thank you to our industry speakers!
CMGT Guest Speakers 2023−24
| Class | Speaker | Topic | Speaker Affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABUS 4013W | Terrance Newby | Intellectual property law (video) | Maslon law firm |
| Holly Robbins | Employment Law and HR (video) | Littler Mendelson law firm | |
| ABUS 4217 | Neal Morris | City Planning (video) | Developer |
Robert Lux | Project Development (video) | Alatus LLC | |
Joy Nazzari | Branding Places (video) | DN & Co | |
| ABUS 4218 | Jennifer Ericson | Community Development Finance (video) | Community Reinvestment Fund, Minneapolis |
Paul Mullaney | Real Estate Lending (video) | CarVal Investors | |
Tom Salmen | Commercial Banks and Real Estate (video) | US Bank | |
Deidre Schmidt | Affordable Housing Finance (video) | CommonBond Communities | |
Patrick Seeb | Area Planning (Video) | Destination Medical Center | |
Jody Tableporter | Urban Regeneration Finance (video) | UMN CCAPS | |
| ABUS 4545 | Robin DiAngelo, PhD | White Fragility (Webinar) | University of Washington |
| CMGT 3001W | Bob Rawell | General Conditions, Overhead, and Profit | AutoBuilders General Contracting Services |
| CMGT 4041W | Jeff Callinan | State Capitol Competition (Video) | JE Dunn Construction |
William Bartolic | Final Four Judge | Retired (Former instructor) | |
Katya Pilling | Final Four Judge | JE Dunn Construction | |
Mary McNellis | Final Four Judge | Real Estate Developer | |
Ted Lentz | Final Four Judge | Architect (Retired) | |
| CMGT 4196 | Brian Filiatrtaut | Internship Presentation Judge | Weis Builders (Alumnus)(Adv Bd) |
Andrew Neubarth | Internship Presentation Judge | Weis Builders | |
Ryan Kuznia | Internship Presentation Judge | Weis Builders | |
Cole Bernhardson | Internship Presentation Judge | Weis Builders | |
Andy Coubal | Internship Presentation Judge | Weis Builders | |
Riley Echerman | Internship Presentation Judge | Weis Builders | |
Jason Law | Internship Presentation Judge | Weis Builders | |
Matt Harmon | Internship Presentation Judge | McGough Construction (Alumnus) | |
Marie Zellman | Internship Presentation Judge | McGough Construction | |
Dan McKay | Internship Presentation Judge | McGough Construction (Adv Bd) | |
Reid Romer | Internship Presentation Judge | Egan Companies (Adv Bd) | |
Mark Broadwater | Internship Presentation Judge | Egan Companies | |
Chris Keller | Internship Presentation Judge | Egan Companies | |
Elise Hartfield | Internship Presentation Judge | Egan Companies | |
Ross Noak | Internship Presentation Judge | Egan Companies | |
Jamer Ford | Internship Presentation Judge | Egan Companies | |
Avin Kallenbach | Internship Presentation Judge | Mortenson Construction | |
Joe Pritzkow | Internship Presentation Judge | Mortenson Construction | |
Alison Gordon | Internship Presentation Judge | Mortenson Construction | |
Brian Grant | Internship Presentation Judge | Mortenson Construction | |
Steve Hauser | Internship Presentation Judge | Instructor | |
| CMGT 4562 | Amy Satterfield | Impact of Building Envelope on Indoor Air Quality | Institute for Environmental Assessment |
Jason Hanlon | Corrosion of Steel Building Components | Braun Intertec Corporation | |
Paul Whitenack | Quality Assurance and Quality Control | Kraus Anderson Construction | |
Dave Campbell | Below-Grade Waterproofing | UM Faculty | |
Mark Swanson | Masonry Wall Enclosure Design | International Masonry Institute | |
Pat Conway | Masonry Wall Construction | Architect | |
Robert Grupe | EIFS | Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industry | |
Robert Grupe | Cement Plaster Systems (Stucco) | Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industry | |
Craig Wetmore | Flashings | York Flashings | |
Craig Wetmore | Wall Component Compatibility | York Flashings | |
Bill Pierro | Flat Roof Details | Kline-Johnson and Associates | |
Michael Angelo | Roof Top Fall Protection Overview | Dakota Safety | |
Andre Lehr | Building Enclosure Commissioning | Braun Intertec Corporation | |
George Ramsay | Window Design Criteria and Installation Details | Pella Corporation | |
Matt Gums | Storefront vs Curtainwall vs Window Wall Systems | Empirehouse | |
| CMGT 4861 | Vana Greischar | Guest Speaker | Greiner Construction (Alumna) |
Jacob Castle | Guest Speaker | API Construction (Alumna) | |
Paris Otremba | HR Case Studies | Adolfsen & Peterson | |
Yolanda McIntosh | HR Case Studies | DEI Director, AGC-MN | |
Shari Robinson | HR Case Studies | CCAPS DEI Director | |
Mariah Dean | HR Case Studies, Capstone Judge | Eden Resources | |
Zaylore Stout | HR Case Studies | HR Attorney | |
Steve Day | Pursuit Judge | Sullivan Day Construction | |
Ken Styrlund | Pursuit Judge | JE Dunn Construction (Ret) | |
Wayde Johnson | Pursuit Judge | AMCON Construction |
Site Visits
Faculty also lead site visits and field trips to further enhance the student learning experience and bring sites into the classroom via site videos. The following are some of the sites that hosted visits by Construction Management classes and site videos shown in class. With thanks to our industry partners.
Site Visits and Site Videos, 2023–24
| Class | Site | Delivery Method |
|---|---|---|
ABUS 4013W | Eureka Mills Superfund Site | Video |
CMGT 3001W | Fraser Hall Addition | Site Tour |
CMGT 4081 | Pioneer Hall construction project | Virtual Site Visit |
CMGT 4545 | Braun Intertec, Bloomington | Testing Lab Tour |
CMGT 4562 | Westminster Church Addition | Video |
District 600 Apartments | Video | |
| UMN Ambulatory Care Center | Video |