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Kiewit, Exec’s Joint $4.3M-Gift Establishes Construction Engineering Program Chair at Colorado School of Mines
Endowed role will lead development and growth of the school’s construction engineering curriculum
Kiewit Corp. Chairman and former CEO Bruce Grewcock, a Mines alumnus, has pledged that the EPC giant would hire “every one of this program’s graduates.”
A $4.3 million-endowment to the Colorado School of Mines from Kiewit Corp. and Chairman Bruce Grewcock will create a program chair to oversee the school’s new Bachelor of Science in Construction Engineering degree.
The Golden, Colo.-based research university announced last week that the joint gift will establish the Kiewit Corporation Endowed Chair to spearhead the program’s research and curriculum development as an educator and industry “connector.” In a press release, Mines President Paul C. Johnson added that the new role will also be key in ensuring the program’s students are aligned with the rapidly changing “current and future needs of the construction industry.”
“We want it to quickly become one of the premier construction engineering programs in the world,” Johnson said of the four-year program, which the school said it founded in 2023 to meet the construction industry’s ballooning demand for new talent. According to the school, the program’s inaugural class included 45 students led by two announced faculty members with varied research, technological and sustainable backgrounds in civil construction.
Championing the program’s potential from the outset, Grewcock—a former Kiewit CEO of 15 years until 2020, and a 1976 Mines alumnus—pledged to Mines that the construction industry “is booming” and Kiewit would hire “every one of this program’s graduates.”
“Our industry is evolving rapidly, requiring new skills and pragmatic, real-world experience from those looking to build the world’s future infrastructure and energy projects,” Grewcock added in the press release announcing the gift. “This program will play a notable part in helping Mines deliver on its goal to educate and equip the best engineering talent for the next phase of their lives.”
In its announcement, the university said it is seeking additional industry partners to invest in expanding the program’s faculty and scholarship offerings.
ENR has contacted Mines for more information on when the Kiewit Corporation Endowed Chair role is expected to be fulfilled and the selection process.
