The following is an actual mailout from USM Mailout. Tell me its a joke....we have a "Department of Construction"???? Is that in the same college as the "Department of Paving"?

Did this go through Academic Council? IHL??


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New Program Emphasis in Residential Construction
School of Construction, The University of Southern Mississippi


Home building or residential real estate development is a highly
interdisciplinary and integrated process involving a number of core
skills such as land acquisition, land development, building design,
building construction, real estate finance, real estate marketing,
real estate law, and project management. Despite this interdisciplinary
and integrated nature of the home building process, the required core
skills are currently taught in a disintegrated fashion.


Thus, construction/development managers often spend many years in
employment learning the essential components of these disciplines in
order to become effective managers of the development process. By
developing a program that teaches residential real estate development
as an integrated process, graduates from the program will get into the
industry armed with the essential components of the core disciplines
that would otherwise take them many years to learn in industry.
Shortening this learning curve is particularly important in view of
the booming U.S. housing market and the growing need for knowledgeable
and well-rounded managers.


A new emphasis in Residential Construction is being offered by the School
of Construction, beginning spring 2006. The emphasis is aimed at equipping
both full-time students and industry professionals with knowledge and core
skills in the residential real estate development and marketing process
from the development of raw land into finished and serviced lots, through
the design and construction of the housing units to the marketing of the
finished products and transfer of ownership to homebuyers through mortgage
and financial instruments.


In addition to the core subjects that construction students take (such as
planning and scheduling, estimating, building systems, soils, etc.), the
curriculum will also cover courses such as Land Development and Real
Property Law, Residential Planning and Design, Real Estate Principles,
Real Estate Finance and Principles of Marketing. A language component,
Spanish, is also included in view of the current nature of the construction
labor market in the U.S.


The emphasis is supported by companies such as Centex and Adams Homes,
which, in their bid to hire students who would be well-rounded and skilled
managers (in terms of having a broad base of knowledge in the entire business
of residential real estate development, while having specialist skills in
areas such as design, estimating and scheduling), have been very instrumental
in the development of the program's curriculum. The emphasis is the first
undergraduate residential construction program of its kind in the U.S.


In addition to the well-known specialist job opportunities that construction
students have access to, such as estimating, project management, site
superintendence, etc., graduates from the new emphasis can also pursue
careers in residential home building, residential project management, land
development project management, real estate development management,
subdivision development management, construction management, etc.


The emphasis will be of interest to students who would like to pursue career
interest in the residential real estate/home building sector or who plan to
develop their own residential construction business in the future.
Architectural technology students, who do not have long-term plans for
pursuing a master's degree and obtaining a professional architecture
license and who have interest in the residential sector of the industry,
would also find this emphasis as a suitable degree choice for a career in
building. They also may consider taking the emphasis as their minor, as
do students from other departments such as business and real estate finance.



For more information on this program, please contact:



Dr. Francis Kofi Adams
Coordinator, Residential Construction Program
School of Construction, The University of Southern Mississippi
Tel: 601-266-5155
E-mail: francis.adams@usm.edu


Alternatively, you many contact any of the School of Construction faculty
below:

Professor Desmond Fletcher
Director, School of Construction
Tel: 601-266-5185
E-mail: desmond.fletcher@usm.edu


Professor Hugo Ley
School of Construction
Tel: 601-266-4894
E-mail: hd.ley@usm.edu


Mrs. Doris Kemp
School of Construction
Tel: 601-266-5673
E-mail: doris.kemp@usm.edu


Mr. Bill Crosby
School of Construction
Tel: 601-266-4892
E-mail: william.crosby@usm.edu