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The Punchlist March/April 2008 AGC’s 2008 Educator of the Year: Florida CM prof takes learning beyond the classroom By Mark Shaw
Kevin Grosskopf was honored in March as the Educator of the Year by AGC at the association’s annual convention in Las Vegas, where he spoke with Constructor magazine about the events that led him into a career in teaching. Constructor: You worked in several different segments of the construction industry before you moved into academics. How did you end up there? Kevin Grosskopf: It was a long and serendipitous road. As a teenager, I worked in a cabinetry shop and did residential remodeling, learning several of the trades throughout my 20s the hard way, and I have a missing finger on my left hand to prove it. I interned in commercial construction working on a military base for three or four years, building specialty facilities for a weapons lab. Then I went to the government side and they sent me for a Ph.D. I started teaching part time and then full time in 2002. Constructor: What about the research component of your work? KG: It has several different components, of course, but in 2002 I started with FU’s Center for Collective Protection, which works to mitigate hazards in natural and man-made environments. We do research and training in the areas of mold, hurricane, fire and explosive protection, as well as others. All of the work goes through the university. We research the protocols that help protect buildings from a multitude of hazards by working with the industry to assimilate information and develop solutions. Basically, we take technology developed by the military and Homeland Security for high-value assets and help transfer it to the private sector. We try to make it practical, cost-efficient and commercially useful. Constructor: That sounds like pretty cutting-edge stuff. How does that mesh with your teaching? KG: The key is that we always try to involve students in the research process. These issues aren’t going away, so we provide this information to them as another dimension of their education. Working with students on the solutions is rewarding, invigorating and always challenging. I love seeing the progress they make along the way. When you really enjoy what you’re doing, you don’t work a day in your life. I had some great mentors, and I’ve always felt a need to give back to others. I like to help them learn not just skills, but how to manage their careers, how to communicate and find balance in their lives. Constructor: How does your AGC involvement fit into all of this? KG: I’ve had a long relationship with AGC that started when I was a student at Florida State University. I was involved in the student chapter there and saw how it worked to connect students with industry. I am now tasked with building its student membership here [University of Florida]. We’re working on adding more scholarships, professional development, and we’re active in community-service projects. It’s an outstanding opportunity for students to learn beyond the classroom.
Constructor: What do students most need to learn to succeed in the industry today? KG: Many things, of course, and some of them are not part of the traditional CM curriculum, like leadership skills, ethics, accountability and communication. We also focus a lot on critical thinking and problem solving. We want our students to progress through management to leadership positions, so we put them in real-world scenarios and project groups where they work closely with their peers. We want them to realize that management and leadership are not the same thing.
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