Students Don Hard Hats to Learn Project Management on Construction Site just Steps from San Diego Campus

San Diego, January 15, 2007  — By the fourth class of "Management 6999: Project Management," students had already studied two hotel projects, one in Nigeria and one in Japan, a Hydrogen Learning Lab project in San Diego and an oil exploration in Romania. By the end of the eight-week course, through eight presentations given by 10 industry professionals and Alliant faculty members, students had expanded both their knowledge of international business - and their hands-on skills - by going beyond the campus and the conventional borders of today’s university classrooms.

During the fall course, Dr. Meenakshi S. Krishnamoorthy, the coordinating professor, exposed 11 undergraduate and graduate students to a diverse group of instructors and project managers involved in international and multi-million dollar construction and technology projects; one of those projects is rising just steps from the Alliant Scripps Ranch Campus.

The result was an academic experience that is virtually unrivaled in the San Diego higher education market. “Not only did Dr. Krishnamoorthy share his tremendous experience, but so did the professors who came to give lectures,” said student Joy Limprayoon. “I came into this class wanting to know how to manage projects, and now I do.”

In recent years, management education has become increasingly competitive. Alliant International University’s Marshall Goldsmith School of Management (MGSM) has responded with increasingly innovative approaches, like the MGT 6999 course, that prepare students for careers in today’s complex and global business field.

The course, taught at Alliant’s Scripps Ranch campus in San Diego, also took advantage of a nearby construction site where the San Diego school district has been building the Thurgood Marshall Middle School. Carl Schneider, Project Manager for San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) and Ben Bump, Project Manager for Soltek Pacific, presented to the MGSM class during the seventh week of the course, which concluded with a visit to the construction site.

The site, located at the entrance to the campus, is unavoidable. Finding a way to benefit from the project’s caused chaos and inconvenience is a testament to the innovative minds at Alliant and reinforced the university’s ‘professional practice’ model of education. Professional practice is a model of education in which students learn theory in the classroom, then have side-by-side field experiences which enable them to put the theory into practice and build practical, hands-on skills that allow them to be productive on the job virtually from day one.

During their visit to the Thurgood Marshall Middle School construction site, students and teachers donned hard hats to tour 162,000 square feet of facilities, all in varied stages of construction. The $40 million dollar construction project, which includes a yet-to-be-built performing arts theatre, 38-acre parking lot and six-acre recreation field, will ultimately serve 1,800 sixth, seventh and eighth grade students.

Under the hard hats was an unusually diverse group of students, professors and presenters. Dr. Krishnamoorthy (third from left in photo at left) drew from Alliant’s rich resource of international and multicultural faculty, inviting fellow MGSM Professors Mohammed Khalil, Rene Naert, David Bainbridge (foreground at right) and Principal Lecturer Akunna Winston to speak to the class. Because the teachers had backgrounds that included working in France, Japan, Columbia and Nigeria (to name a few places), students were able to gain a global understanding of varied international business practices while professors were able to learn from their colleagues’ experiences. 

"Dr. Krishna’s concept brought together professors and students representing a microcosm of the global community,” said participating professor Dr. René M. Naert.

“I found co-teaching a fantastic experience. The uniqueness of this course is in the diversity and joint collaboration among the faculty. They (faculty) talked about experiences in project management-a great source of learning for students and faculty," said Dr. Krishnamoorthy. “Theory puts kids to sleep. When you talk about practice, they not only wake up, they also realize that the real world is before them. That makes a huge difference in their learning capabilities. They suddenly get interested in learning."

Dr. Krishnamoorthy pulled from his extensive network of colleagues and friends to round out the team of teachers. He called on Dr. Irene Eiko Jones, whom he first met as a member of the Japan Society of San Diego and Tijuana’s Education Council, to speak on her involvement with the renovation of San Diego’s historic El Cortez Hotel.

Dr. Jones also discussed her latest project, the ambitious “Oshima Project” in Japan, where a new island is being prepared to accommodate the Country’s growing elderly population. Through this presentation, students learned about the process of attracting international private sector construction funding for local housing development.

Dr. Krishmanoorthy, whose professional background includes positions as a corporate CEO, a university president and a director of projects for the United Nations, presented on a dredge construction project in India. His proposed project planning and control methods enabled the company to decrease its completion time from three years to 12 months. Through his presentation, students learned about the causes and effects of efficiency and productivity.

“The students and faculty alike benefited immensely from this interchange of ideas and experience both in the class room as well as during the site visit,” said Dr. Krishnamoorthy.

“I’ve been a faculty member at several other universities in other cities, and other states, and never in my 30-plus years in the realm of higher education have I ever experienced such a dynamic, thought provoking, interesting program,” said Dr. Naert. “In this era, there is increased emphasis on the importance of global integration regarding the study of economics, politics, management, and sociology. A student would be hard pressed to find a better university in which to become immersed in the diverse classroom settings than at Alliant International University.”

For More Information

San Diego Unified School District: Slide show of Thurgood Marshall construction