New Year’s greetings from the CM Department! With such a great group of students, faculty, staff, and industry supporters, the department has never been stronger.
Over the past several years, we have made good progress toward achieving our goal of growing the undergraduate program. Our numbers have steadily increased even as we have maintained our standards for acceptance into the program, particularly with regard to our extensive list of prerequisite classes. We have recently improved our curriculum by increasing students’ access to relevant technology and by improving our assessment of student learning. We are using the lean strategy of Plan-Do-Act-Check to continuously improve the program. Our Construction Industry Advisory Council (CIAC) is over 30 members strong and continues to provide us with support and guidance on how to improve our educational program.
We have several other ongoing initiatives, including increasing the number of transfer students, increasing the diversity of our student population, providing students with two internships, increasing the number of freshman direct and early admit students, improving the master’s program, and increasing the number and dollar value of department scholarships. Each of these initiatives have their own set of challenges, but I believe that striving toward these goals will make the Department a better place to learn and teach.
How time flies when you are having fun. Now in my fourth year as Department Chair, I feel truly privileged to work with such a great group.
Please contact me at wbender@uw.edu if you would like to get involved with the UW CM Department.
Bill Bender,
Chair, UW Construction Management