CHICAGO—The Mechanical Contractors Association of Chicago has announced the launch of their newly minted “Essentials of Project Management Certificate Program”, which, in concert with Oak Brook, Ill.-based Directions Training, will provide up-to-date professional and technical training to project managers in the mechanical contracting industry. The program’s inaugural class will commence on September 25 at the association’s headquarters in Burr Ridge, Ill.
With guidance from professional education experts, MCA Chicago Executive Vice President Stephen Lamb and Vice President of Education Dan Day made the decision to revamp the program—first introduced in 2001—in response to the advanced technical and organizational demands of the modern construction industry. DePaul University’s Russ Rogers, Ph.D., and the Mechanical Contractors Association of America National Education Institute’s John Koontz, both consultants on the new program, have officially signed on to join its faculty.
“Education has always been, and continues to be, one of our top priorities at MCA,” said Day. “It is our goal to provide our members and their staff with the most comprehensive and robust training possible. Our project management program has been highly successful in the past, and we wanted to ensure that it remains a rigorous and rewarding undertaking for those who complete it.”
The new program will employ a faculty of current and former college professors and experienced project management professionals. The new class roster will certify that program attendees develop core skills in a diverse range of areas, including communication, negotiation, financial management, construction software, legal affairs, change order processing, and project close-out.
In order to offer a greater breadth of skills and knowledge to attendees, the new program will comprise three levels of certificate training. The first level, called “Essentials,” will require 72 hours of classroom instruction and is intended to be completed in less than two years. Details on the successive levels, called “Intermediate” and “Masters” respectively, are forthcoming.
The association will implement the new program through their Construction Education Institute, which is open to all members of the Piping Education Council. The institute offers the new program alongside an array of new classes for its Fall-Winter 2015 semester. Classes at the institute are intended to help contractors, engineers, service technicians and managers stay up-to-date on evolving technologies and industry best practices. The Construction Education Institute is located at 7065 Veterans Boulevard in Burr Ridge, Ill.