WOMAN IN A MAN’S WORLD

Construction Management is Growing and Lucrative Field for Young Women

Norma Andersen was a coalminer’s daughter raised in the mountains of Wyoming. The small town where she spent the winter months only had 10 boys to play with. She was surrounded by males throughout her childhood, and today, not much has changed.

“I never had girls to play with growing up. I grew up in this nontraditional world and was very comfortable in it,” said Andersen, a construction management professor at Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Andersen is surrounded by men at home—she and her husband,

Kenneth, have two sons—and in the construction field, where she is among only nine percent of women involved in the construction industry. She’s proved herself in the field as the first woman honored by the American Institute of Constructors for her distinguished service in advancing the construction profession, and the first woman to be named an educator trustee on the American Council for Construction Education.

Andersen and Kenneth started Andersen Construction in 1972 in Wyoming. “I literally started as his flunky at the end of his tape measure,” she said.

The company grew and so did Andersen’s responsibilities. “I learned to estimate, schedule, run jobs and interact with all the project participants,” she said. “It wasn’t my educational path that got me here. It was the turn of events and it’s become my passion.”

They eventually closed the business to attend graduate school at Colorado State University, where Andersen received her master’s degree and Ph.D. in vocational education human resource management.

Kenneth accepted a teaching position at NDSU in 1991, bringing the family to Fargo, while Andersen accepted a teaching position at Michigan State a year later. After teaching at Michigan and the University of Florida, Andersen joined MSUM’s construction management faculty in 1999. The Andersens opened KWA Construction in 2000.

Andersen’s main goal is to educate women about the construction management field and the excellent opportunities available to them. She said a common misconception about this field is that women think they will be doing heavy manual labor, but in reality, it’s management of construction projects. Sonia N’kulu is the only female out of 89 majors studying construction management at MSUM.

“Being the only girl in the construction management program was intimidating when I first started, but with time, I have learned to be comfortable and more confident in what I do,” N’kulu said. “I have always wanted to be part of a big thing, come up with great ideas that can bring wonder in people’s lives.”

Construction management starting salaries average nearly $50,000 in positions like project manager, project engineer and scheduler. MSUM students have interned at more than 150 construction companies in 30 states. Opportunities cross a wide spectrum of industries, including commercial, heavy/highway, industrial, residential or specialty construction.

“Women fail to see that building roads and buildings is giving back to society. Someone has to do it and be conscious of the environmental impacts, and I think women are better at that,” Andersen said.

Andersen enjoys MSUM’s construction program because her students receive hands-on experience that prepares them for the real world.

“I like working with the students and hope that I pass on the passion I have for construction,” Andersen said. “I feel my success is judged by the positions my students attain once they enter the industry.”