Clevenger named director of construction programs

Associate professor Caroline Clevenger has been named director of the construction engineering and management programs within the Department of Civil Engineering. Clevenger has been with the program since its inception in 2014 and is thrilled at how much the program has grown and the ample opportunities that lie ahead.

From her perspective, the program’s accomplishments are reflected in the success of the students, including internships or job offers from local and national construction companies; awards for their research papers; travel and academic scholarships; research funded by AGC; and more.

“Students are clearly the biggest metric of success,” says Clevenger. “They build our alumni network and brand—they represent the biggest impact of our program.”

In 2019, the program launched two new undergraduate programs—construction engineering and management and construction management—to meet industry needs and compliment the thriving graduate programs. In five short years, the program has grown from two to 45 students, and with the additional offerings, is poised to hit 150 students by 2022.

Moving forward, Clevenger has set the bar high with the following goals.

• Create and grow a premiere inclusive, urban, interdisciplinary construction educational program that serves the thriving construction industry in Colorado and beyond.
• Provide great diversity of gender, ethnicity, thought, skills and human potential for our industry, which will make our students valuable change-agents in the construction industry and in the world.

“It’s exciting to be part of a great team.  Our construction faculty have all been here since the program’s launch, and we are part of larger forward-thinking initiative at the college level to create the engineers of the future,” she says.

“It’s in this context that I look forward to continuing to work together to take our program to a new level. Denver is a great city, CU Denver is still small enough to make change, we are attracting innovative and energetic students and we are part of industry and city that are rapidly evolving. In short, I couldn’t be more excited to see where our program goes.”

In her own words: Clevenger shares her thoughts.