January 2007 A Concrete Advantage MTSU’s industry-leading program sets the mold for its imitators By Drew Ruble Concrete is arguably the ultimate
symbol of mankind’s enterprising ways: filling foundations, flattening landscapes and scraping the skies.
Framed in such romanticized terms, it perhaps is not so surprising that a degree in Concrete Industry Management (CIM) offered through the engineering department at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) has become the fastest growing major on campus. About 300 students are currently enrolled. Job placement rates top 90%. CIM graduates boast the highest starting salaries among MTSU graduates. And, in fact, so unique is MTSU’s program that several surrounding states pay the difference in out-of-state tuition for their homegrown students to attend.
MTSU initiated the first-of-its-kind degree program over 10 years ago in partnership with the concrete industry, a largely rurally based, mom-and-pop-intensive industry where middle management roles were historically left to chance. CIM supplies educated professionals versed in concrete-related technology and techniques to fill the management void in the expanding and changing $100 billion industry. The program has been so successful that industry titans recently determined the need for similar programs at universities nationwide.
“To be copied is a good thing,” says CIM director Heather Brown, though she stresses that MTSU is determined not to lose its position as the flagship university for concrete management studies. And so, in partnership with the industry, MTSU secured a large National Science Foundation grant and initiated a controlled rollout of its signature program. From a crowded list of applicants, chosen sites include Arizona State University, Cal State-Chico and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. All three institutions have shadowed CIM in establishing their own operations and are all now up and running with between four and 12 students enrolled. (Engineering powerhouse Tangii University in concrete-rich China also has plans to duplicate MTSU’s model in 2007.)
MTSU president Sidney McPhee says it’s not uncommon for people to chuckle at the first mention of concrete as a serious form of study.
“But the science, physics and chemistry that goes into that industry is
unbelievable,” McPhee says. “I’ve come to respect the industry so much.”
McPhee hopes CIM will one day be an independent department with its own facility. Fundraising is already underway with an eye toward one day identifying an industry benefactor interested in placing their name on a building. Regarding the availability of state funds, Gov. Phil Bredesen recently listed CIM among the list of possible future appropriations in his 2006 capital budget, which bodes well for the project up the road.
For now, all that is required to keep CIM expanding is a continued flow of students passionate about concrete and eager to cement a career path in an opportunity-filled sector.
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