Who’s in Charge Here? Profile of Construction Management Program Leaders

Abstract

This paper provides an extensive profile of the academic background and industry experience of construction management program leaders (CMPLs) in all institutions accredited with the American Council of Construction Education (ACCE). Using publicly available online resources on construction management (CM) faculties’ academic backgrounds, the study found that CMPLs’ educational credentials are primarily in fields other than CM. Only 10% of CMPLs had doctoral degrees in CM. Nearly half of CMPLs had doctoral degrees in civil engineering. About two-thirds of CMPLs did not have any of their degrees–bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral–in CM. More CMPLs had no doctoral degree than a doctoral degree in CM. To measure industry experience, a novel proxy metric called “gap time” was used to quantify the opportunity CMPLs had for full-time work between their bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. The mean total gap time for CMPLs was just over 5 years, and the median total gap time was 3 years. Approximately one-fifth of CMPLs had 0 years of total gap time. Recommendations based upon the findings include modifications to hiring procedures for new CM faculty and ways that ACCE accredited institutions can support the growth and development of CM as an independent academic field.