California State University, Sacramento

Academic Program

Our full-time tenured faculty each have 10+ years of industry experience prior to changing careers to become university professors, in the areas of architecture, engineering (mechanical and civil), and construction (general and specialty).  We also employ over 25 part-time faculty from the industry throughout the academic year to assist us in teaching courses across our curriculum, such as civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, construction and labor law, heavy civil, commercial contracting, etc. We provide a practice-orientated undergraduate education with a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management combined with a Minor degree in Business Administration.

Since we established a student chapter of MCAA on our campus approximately 10 years ago, we have seen a shift from 0% job placement into mechanical contracting firms to between 20-25% of our graduates going into the mechanical and electrical contracting career fields.  The Northern California Mechanical Contractors Association has been instrumental in providing our students locally with networking opportunities through events and job site tours with their member companies.  We also work closely with the other two Northern California universities with MCAA student chapters for fundraising and events to stretch this networking even further.  The education opportunities provided to us through MCAA at no out-of-pocket costs have been priceless for me as the faculty advisor, and especially for our undergraduate students that participate in the MCAA annual student competitions, the annual conventions, and the student summits each year.  Our program is general in the sense of construction management education, with only one required course in the combined mechanical and electrical engineering principles course, taught by industry engineers.  Without the support of Northern California MCA and MCAA, we would not be able to introduce the depth of the mechanical contracting field to our students, and we would have missed a great opportunity for careers with MCAA member companies.

Awards & Activities

The Department of Construction Management at Sacramento State has earned over 50 awards (1st, 2nd, and 3rd place) in regional and national student competitions over the past 10 years, and we walked away with the best record of all universities at the 2017 Associated Schools of Construction Student Competition with 5 awards out of the 7 teams we sponsored to compete.  Specifically, in the mechanical contracting problem category, we have earned 8 awards in the past 10 years, two of which were the final four (2nd and 3rd places) for the MCAA student competition.