Colorado State University’s Department of Construction Management is proudly the only undergraduate program in Colorado accredited by the American Council for Construction Education. The department recently secured a seven-year accreditation renewal that runs from February 2023 to February 2030. The CM program first earned accreditation by ACCE in 1985 and has maintained accreditation ever since.

Accrediting body

ACCE is the primary accreditation board for construction management programs around the world, with its central goal to promote and improve construction education in colleges and universities. It provides accreditation to programs that request the evaluation and meet the standards set forth by the Council. The program must demonstrate exemplary curriculum, faculty, and facilities capable of providing the best and most current education possible to students.

The rigorous standards of evaluation include eight performance areas: program and university governance and administration; curriculum for the bachelor’s degree; faculty and staff; student policies; physical resources; financial resources; industry, alumni, and public relations; and academic quality planning process and outcome assessment.

Strengths of the program

CSU’s Construction Management Program strengths noted by the ACCE visiting team included the program’s facilities, effective administrative staff, and the department’s relationship with the construction industry. The program’s 36,000 square feet of dedicated space, as well as industry representation throughout the facilities were noted by the team as providing an outstanding learning environment for the students.

“An exceptional trait of our program has always been our strong connection with industry partners. So, it was wonderful to see the accreditation team recognize this and note it as one of the program’s strengths,” said Paul Goodrum, CM Department Head.

Since the inception of the Construction Management undergraduate program in 1946, close to 6,000 students have graduated, many of them going on to become leaders in the field. The academic program is interdisciplinary with course requirements throughout multiple colleges at CSU, as well as applied courses in construction science and construction management. The focus is on the integration of management systems and other technologies into the construction process. These requirements provide a wide scope of educational experiences that create a broad range of career options for graduates.

The Department of Construction Management is part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.