Tower Winter/Spring 2024 - 18

/// GIVING BACK
BUILDING CIVIL ENGINEERING
CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY
From the bridge you drive across
on your daily commute to the stores
you perused holiday gifts in, to the
road adding miles to your car and
the building stairs you traverse to get
to an appointment, civil engineering
has touched it all. Modern life has
been planned and built by the civil
engineering construction industry.
Companies in this arena provide
the critical infrastructure we
depend on in our day-to-day lives,
and today they are on the brink
of a vast labor shortage. As those
nearing retirement age prepare
to leave the workforce, there is
not enough skilled labor in the
pipeline to backfill these roles and
keep up with increasing demand.
As concern grew around this
impending scenario, Nate
Brenneman, Regional Director
of HR and Craft Talent Strategy,
and Joe England, Vice President
of Construction at Allan Myers,
began brainstorming solutions
to the looming problem facing
their heavy civil construction and
materials supplier business.
" Over the next 10 to 15 years, a lot
of foremen and superintendents
are going to be retiring, " Nate said.
" There's going to be a mass exodus.
We need to fill that gap by educating
young people about our industry. "
Nate and Joe met with Dr. Tim
Bianchi, Special Projects Assistant
to the President at Thaddeus Stevens
College. They expressed their need
for skilled technicians in heavy
civil engineering and discussed
potential solutions. This led to
further discussions internally at
the College, as part of the school's
mission is to provide programs
leading to high-demand jobs
with family-thriving wages, and
adding relevant programs is one
of the initiatives the College uses
to grow and meet demand for
its education. The discussions
also included external business
supporters, as every program
offered at Thaddeus Stevens
College includes many partners to
support curriculum development,
equipment and tool needs, and
other foundational underpinnings.
" We want and need to hire the
next generation but we also have
the challenge of training them to
be job-ready, " Joe said. " We were
really trying to find a place that
would naturally cultivate these
young people because they would
have an interest and passion before
coming into the workplace. "
To develop the Civil Engineering
Construction Technology associate
degree program, Allan Myers
committed to contributing financial
support to Thaddeus Stevens
College, one of several partners to
do so. The team poured hundreds
of hours of planning and curriculum
development into the preparation,
ensuring fulfillment of standards for
an associate degree at the College.
17 : Tower Magazine
Tower Winter/Spring 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Tower Winter/Spring 2024
