News Release


March 27, 2007

Boise State Student Construction Management Association Donates $20,000 Back to University
Funds will go into account for new lecturer position in department

They could have thrown a party, bought club jackets and still had enough cash to charter a plane to the Bahamas. Instead, construction management students at Boise State University decided to give $20,000 in donations their association has received over the years back to the university.

Members of the university’s Construction Management Association (CMA) recently presented the $20,000 check to President Bob Kustra. The funds will go into an account to establish a new, permanent lecturer position in the Department of Construction Management in Boise State’s College of Engineering.

“We recognize the need for new faculty in our growing department. I hope this donation shows that we care about the education of students who come after us,” said Joshua Martin, a senior construction management student and outgoing CMA president.

Kustra lauded the students for establishing the habit of giving back so early in their careers. “This group is setting a model for what student associations can accomplish,” Kustra said.

The funds the CMA donated came from dozens of business and community groups that had been the recipients of community service projects completed by construction management students over the past 25 years. These groups made donations back to the CMA after the students volunteered their labor for a variety of construction-related projects at Zoo Boise, the Idaho Botanical Gardens, Deer Flat Wildlife Refuge, the Ronald McDonald House, the Veteran’s Administration, ball walls at more than a dozen local elementary schools and many other projects.

In the past, the CMA has donated the interest from their account to a scholarship fund for construction management students, but until now had never touched the principal. The $20,000 will be added over the next two years to an account managed by the Boise State Foundation for a new position in the Construction Management Department. That account was established in Fall 2006 with a $60,000 donation from Idaho Sand & Gravel.

“It’s quite an astonishing gesture, and I don’t know how to thank you for supporting the program and the students who come after you,” said Rebecca Mirsky, chair of the Department of Construction Management.

Boise State’s CMA was established in 1981 as the student chapter of the Associated General Contractors (AGC), just two years after the construction management program began in 1979. Since then, the Boise State CMA has rarely gone a year without receiving an award in AGC’s national Outstanding Student Chapter Contest, including seven 1st place awards, five 2nd place awards, three 3rd place awards and two honorable mentions.

In addition to the many AGC outstanding student chapter awards, the Boise State CMA has five times been designated the Associated Students of BSU Outstanding Professional Organization of the Year.

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Contact: Rebecca Mirsky, Department of Construction Management, (208) 426-3256, rebeccamirsky@boisestate.edu
Media contact: Janelle Brown, University Communications, (208) 426-1790, jbrown2@boisestate.edu

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Last reviewed on Tuesday, April 10, 2007