Mark Hasso’s students come to school in baggy shorts, turned-around baseball caps and shaved heads. They’ll leave with marketable degrees, hands-on construction experience, great contacts and $60,000-plus job offers. The civil engineering and construction management professor at Boston’s Wentworth Institute of Technology knows what the industry wants and makes sure his graduates deliver. A day with the veteran engineer-academic shows how dedicated, involved individuals are changing the face of construction education.
Sophomore Krystale Goodridge arrives at 8 a.m. to talk with Hasso, the school’s CM program coordinator, about transferring in from the architecture program. She sees better prospects managing bricks and mortar. “Last year, starting salaries averaged about $53,000,” says Hasso. “This year, they are in the 60s because industry is realizing the quality of our grads. Big firms recruit here all the time.” He ticks off a list of major New England contractors that have hired hundreds of Wentworth graduates.