SUNY Delhi Receives $100,000 to Establish Residential Construction Option

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SUNY Delhi President Candace Vancko addresses why the college is a leader in Construction Management.

DELHI, NY (02/15/2014)(readMedia)-- SUNY Delhi has received a $100,000 grant from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) to establish a Residential Construction Management (RCM) option as part of its Construction Management program.

"This grant, combined with our outstanding faculty, will help us meet the needs of our students and the needs of the residential construction industry, the cornerstone of our economy," said President Candace S. Vancko.

Among Delhi's incoming construction majors, 75 percent say they have a strong interest in residential construction. The college's current Construction Management program focuses primarily on commercial and industrial sectors of the industry. With the NAHB grant, the college is able to create a formalized path for students to pursue their interest in residential construction management. The grant funds will also help expand industry partnerships with the goal of providing students access to a wide selection of internships and job opportunities.

"We are proud to say that SUNY Delhi will be the first to deliver this type of specialized program in the Northeast," said Eric Robert, SUNY Delhi Dean of Applied Sciences and Building Technologies. "The NAHB grant allows us to combine the strengths and faculty expertise of SUNY Delhi's Construction and Carpentry programs."

Gary Brackett, Associate Professor of Applied Sciences and Building Technologies, said, "The NAHB grant is jump-starting a residential construction management option at Delhi that will prepare students to become leaders in this sector of the industry."

SUNY Delhi has a long-standing reputation as a premier instructional program for all aspects of building construction technology and related areas, offering the first construction curriculum in the U.S. beginning in 1933. Faculty members are experienced professionals with first-hand knowledge of the construction industry.

The college offers a Construction Technology Associate in Applied Science (AAS) program that is nationally accredited by the American Council for Construction Education. Unique to the program is the option for students to continue their education at Delhi in its Construction Management baccalaureate program. The college's Construction Management Bachelor of Technology (BT) offers a unique blend of architecture, liberal arts, mathematics, science, construction management, and business management courses. Through this rigorous curriculum, students are well rounded when introduced to their field. Baccalaureate students are required to complete an 800-hour internship experience, which often leads directly to employment.

The NAHB's National Housing Endowment established the Homebuilding Education Leadership Program (HELP) in 2006 in order to support leading colleges and universities in their work to create, expand, or enhance existing residential construction management programs. Under the program, selected colleges and universities are awarded up to $100,000 to be used during three to four year periods to improve their residential construction programs. To date, the National Housing Endowment HELP Grant program has awarded over $3 million to support the residential construction management programs at 25 institutions of higher education.

"The universities chosen to receive 2014 grants have shown a commitment to providing superior residential construction education opportunities to their students, and these grants will help them raise the level of professionalism in the home building industry for generations to come," said Robert Mitchell, Chairman of the Endowment and 2000 NAHB president.

The key goals of the grant include encouraging academic institutions to provide residential education tracks and increasing the number of qualified college graduates entering the residential construction profession.

Previous grant recipients include Colorado State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Louisiana State University, Michigan State University, Pennsylvania State University, Pittsburgh State University, Purdue University, and Texas A&M University.

For more information about SUNY Delhi's Bachelor of Technology in Construction Management: Design and Building, contact Enrollment Services at 1-800-96-DELHI or visit www.delhi.edu.

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ABOUT SUNY DELHI: SUNY Delhi is a member of the State University of New York, the largest comprehensive university system in the U.S. Delhi's seamless approach to education includes over 60 academic programs leading to baccalaureate degrees in specialized program areas, including Nursing, Hospitality Management, Business and Professional Golf Management, Golf and Sports Turf Management, Information Technology Management, Architectural Design and Building, Construction Technology and Management, Business and Technology Management and Criminal Justice. For more information about SUNY Delhi, call toll-free 1-800-96-DELHI or visit Delhi's web site at www.delhi.edu.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL HOUSING ENDOWMENT: The National Housing Endowment, established in 1987 by the National Association of Home Builders, helps the home building industry develop more effective approaches to home building, enhances the ways future generations of leaders are educated and trained in residential construction and increases the body of knowledge on housing issues by supporting innovative and effective programs that further education, training and research. The cornerstone of the Endowment's education program is the Homebuilding Education Leadership Program (HELP), a long-term commitment to award seed grants to leading two- and four-year colleges and universities to help them create, expand, or enhance existing residential construction management programs or develop new programs in that academic area. For more information about the National Housing Endowment, please visit the National Housing Endowment Web site at www.nationalhousingendowment.org.