Attend AGC’s HR Professionals Conference and Training & Development Conference October 27-29, in Atlanta and learn what you need to know to be successful as an HR or T&D professional in the construction industry.  With expert speakers providing compliance-related guidance for HR professionals, and interactive sessions that are guaranteed to help T&D professionals sharpen your skills and solve common challenges, you will learn best practices for maximizing efficiency and effectiveness. 

Register and learn more at www.agc.org/hr_td.

The Alabama AGC has joined in a coalition with other trade associations, unions, and owner groups to form the Alabama Construction Recruitment Institute (ACRI) and launch a statewide image-recruitment campaign designed to bring field personnel into the non-residential construction industry.

The campaign will be financed by a fee of 0.0009 collected on wages ($900 on $1 million in wages) paid to field personnel below the superintendent level – working foremen and craftsmen through common labor, said Bill Caton, Alabama AGC director of workforce development. The law is designed to raise $1.75 million annually for the recruiting program.

This recruitment effort is exclusively for the non-residential construction industry; the fee is not applied to construction work on single-family homes.

“The AGC board of directors agreed to support this initiative because it understands the long-term labor need and the value of image enhancement-recruitment for our industry,” Caton said. “This program is designed to act as an ‘Army of One’ campaign for our industry. The AGC and others have already financed research and development that will be used to help complete and implement the recruitment campaign.”

Dr. Tim Alford, the first director of Gov. Bob Riley’s Alabama Office of Workforce Development, has been hired to lead the ACRI. Additional staff will be put in place to implement the campaign, “ultimately bringing talented people into our industry and guiding them into craft education programs and onto our members’ jobsites,” added Caton.

The law limits collection of the fee to four years and requires legislative action to change that. “We are in favor of letting the ACRI run for a couple of years before deciding on any legislative action to change its time limit,” Caton said.

AGC expects to provide more information about the recruitment campaign as it develops and launches.

AGC’s Education and Research Foundation is pleased to announce that applications and forms are now available for the 2010 scholarship and education awards programs.

All applications must be postmarked or submitted online by November 1, 2009.

You can complete the scholarship application online or download the scholarship and award applications from the AGC Education and Research Foundation’s website at www.agcfoundation.org.

Please help us get the word out about these opportunities for students and universities by passing along this information to local AGC student chapters and their staff and/or by advertising the program in your chapter or branch’s newsletter.

Information on the scholarships and awards programs may be found below. If you have additional questions, please contact Flo Slade at sladef@agc.org or call (703) 837-5342.

2010 Scholarships
New scholarship awards will be available for construction and civil engineering students. Please note that our undergraduate scholarship program is for college sophomores and juniors only.
        • Eligibility & Rules: See website for further details.
        • Amount of Scholarship Award:  $2,500 undergraduate; $7,500 graduate

2010 James L. Allhands Essay Contest
Topic: Building a Professional Construction Company - The case for attracting, educating and retaining highly effective managers.
        • Eligibility & Rules: Seniors in construction and civil engineering programs are invited to submit essays.
       Essays may be no more than ten typewritten pages and must be printed in at least 11-point font.
       All essays require the faculty sponsor to verify that each essay submitted has been proofed to ensure its
       publishability.
       • Amount of Award: The first-place winner will receive $1,000 and a trip to the 2010 AGC Convention.
       The first-place faculty sponsor will receive $500 and the Convention trip. The second-place winner
       will receive $500. The third-place winner will receive $300.

2010 Outstanding Educator Award 
The Outstanding Educator Award is designed to recognize the accomplishments of full-time teaching faculty in construction education.  
       • Eligibility & Rules: Nominees are judged in three areas: full-time undergraduate teaching
       responsibilities; activities with students; and, activities with AGC chapters, AGC of America,
       and/or other construction industry organizations. 
        • Amount of Award: The 2010 recipient will receive $5,000 and an expense-paid trip to the 2010
       AGC Convention.

Go to www.agcfoundation.org to learn more!

AGC will be offering the webinar, Integrated Project Delivery (IPD): Why Owners Choose Multi-Party, on October 29, 2009 from 1:00-2:30 PM ET.

Recognize the advantages and disadvantages of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and identify best practices at AGC’s latest IPD webinar. Owners Phillip G. Bernstein, FAIA, RIBA, LEED AP, with Autodesk and Martin Hague of Ascension Health, both industry experts with IPD experience, will discuss the benefits of IPD using a multi-party agreement and explain what you need to know. Free sample of ConsensusDOCS 300 provided with registration. Register today at www.agc.org/ipdwebinar. Contact Megan McGarvey at mcgarveym@agc.org with any questions.

The National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) has updated the “Your Role in the Green Environment” curriculum to include LEED Version 3 and added a Training Course Study Guide: Preparation for Green Advantage® Exam. This guide will assist students and practitioners in their preparations for the Green Advantage® Commercial/Residential Certification Exam.

Additional enhancements to the updated green module include a list of common acronyms used in green construction; updated statistics; revised and updated review and test questions; and a “Green Jobs” Initiative Framework chart.

"Your Role in the Green Environment" is also available in an e-book version through NCCER’s online curricula, Contren® Connect.

Students successfully completing "Your Role in the Green Environment" through an NCCER Accredited Training Sponsor will earn industry-recognized credentials.

For more information on the e-book version and all green updates, visit the online catalog at www.nccer.org.