Why technical skills aren’t enough, and what UW-Madison is doing to prepare tomorrow’s construction managers to succeed in an increasingly interpersonal profession

Construction professionals certainly require significant technical skills; especially as the industry continues to modernize, emerging technologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), augmented reality and virtual reality enabled construction, artificial intelligence, robotics and others demand increasing levels of technical and digital fluency.

However, even as technological tools are on the rise, construction is fundamentally a people-first business: Our projects depend on human skill, relationship-building, collaboration and trust—and educators have an obligation to ensure that students preparing for a career in construction develop interpersonal skills alongside technical skills. Within the Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) program at UW-Madison, we take several approaches to offer and encourage this development in our students.

For starters, we strongly encourage every civil engineering student pursuing the CEM option to complete an internship with a contractor and/or design firm during the course of their studies. This internship provides valuable hands-on experience and a foundation for developing their professional network. The CEM faculty and the program’s alumni have a robust pool of contacts our students can leverage to obtain internships—and they do: More than 90% of CEM students in the program obtain such a placement during their studies. While it is not a formal requirement of the CEM option, students also can use the internship as one-credit elective course. And, the majority of students who complete such an internship convert that experience into an entry-level job offer upon graduation.

For example, CEM alumna Lauren Welker (BSCE ’21, MSCE ’23) completed an internship with DPR Construction, a general contracting and construction management firm ranked in the Engineering News-Record top 10 nationally, while pursuing her studies. Today, she’s a senior project engineer with the firm.

Similarly, alumna Alexa Radermacher (BSCE ’23, MSCE ’26) spent time as an intern with Benesch, a Chicago-based design firm consistently ranked in the ENR Top 500. Today, she, too, remains at Benesch, working as a designer in its Madison office.

Beyond internships, students pursuing the CEM option also complete studies in technical and professional writing and conduct and present independent design projects in their capstone course. This work develops our students’ ability to communicate clearly and engage both technical and nontechnical audiences.

Participation in competition teams further enhances our students’ teamwork and interpersonal skills. For example, UW-Madison fields a consistently strong team in the ELECTRI International Electrical Contracting Innovation Challenge: The team finished in the top-three nationally in each of the last four years, with three championship wins. Students who participate tackle real challenges faced by electrical contractors and learn to apply their skills beyond the homework they do for class. For the challenge, our team members prepare a comprehensive proposal for a real construction project in partnership with our local National Electrical Contractors Association chapter, as well as industry partners and faculty advisors. Their hard work and preparation show: Senior leaders at major construction firms have repeatedly remarked that UW-Madison graduates are among the best communicators and presenters in their companies.

In construction, project managers may be responsible for millions of dollars of construction work; however, the most successful construction managers are those who can communicate with owners, designers, subcontractors, suppliers, superintendents, foremen and craft workers. For this reason, leadership development is an important component of construction engineering and management education.

At UW-Madison, we put that education into practice. Founded nearly three decades ago, Construction Club is the CEM program’s dedicated student organization. It focuses strongly on developing students’ leadership skills and professional networks by connecting them directly to the construction industry. At the organization’s regular meetings, industry professionals present on real-world best practices, host students for jobsite visits and participate in networking events—the culmination of which is the annual Construction Club banquet. Organized entirely by the club’s student members, it is the largest gathering of industry professionals in the Midwest, offering our students an unparalleled opportunity to network with industry leaders. CEM alumni remain actively involved in the Construction Club, providing an ongoing stream of mentorship, networking, internships and full-time employment opportunities to the next generation.

Membership in the club also provides students valuable practical lessons and experience in building both trust and accountability: They communicate expectations, resolve conflicts, negotiate changes, motivate teams, manage uncertainty and make difficult decisions.

That’s what sets UW-Madison civil engineering students apart—and that’s what our industry needs. While sound technical knowledge may help engineers enter the profession, leadership and interpersonal skills often determine how far they advance—and how effective they can be in uniting diverse stakeholders to achieve a successful project outcome.

Awad Hanna is the BOLDT Company Professor and chair of the Construction Engineering and Management Program within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is founder and faculty advisor of the Construction Club engineering student organization and directs the UW-Madison Construction and Materials Support Center in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. He is an acclaimed thought leader in the intersection of productivity at the labor, project and organizational level.