Ascent - Summer 2025
Encon United
Melody Maduell 2025-07-04 13:43:39
HOW ENCON UNITED COMPANY
BUILDS COMMUNITY
Bridging Industry and Academia
Thanks to the Innovative Building Technology (IBT) Precast grant from the PCI Foundation, EnCon United Company and Northern Arizona University (NAU) have established a transformative partnership that reaches beyond traditional recruitment to create spaces that spark passion, give purpose, and address critical challenges in construction.
Strategic Community Building
Building a community is more than providing safe, healthy spaces, “those spaces start in people’s minds,” said Marc Davis, Vice President/General Manager of Encon’s Southwest Division, Tpac. “By building relationships with the people inside the schools we build, we are able to reach deeper into the recruitment pipeline and stir up more interest,” he explained. With labor shortages driven by demographic shifts, Davis acknowledged, “We can’t replicate the manpower we used to have.”
At a PCI event, Davis and fellow Arizona resident Ben Dymond, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Structural Engineering at NAU, met alongside Jason Lien, P.E., FPCI, Colorado-based VP of EnCon United, and CU Denver Architecture Professor Matthew Shea. “We talk about tackling industry problems from both ends,” said Shea, with Lien elaborating on “big struggles like labor shortage, gender bias, mental health, and greenhouse gas emissions.” The group believes longer vertical and horizontal integration could resolve these challenges by bringing more talent to the table.
Interfacing at Academic Intersections
The demand for construction managers far exceeds supply, with only 6,000 annual graduates nationwide against 20,000 openings. Sponsored by 55 companies, NAU’s Construction Management (CM) program is a de facto, “neutralish ground for super-competitive companies to work together,” explained Professor John Tingerthal, Ed.D.
Shelley Hartnett, EnCon’s Sr. VP of Business Development, recently visited to support Shea’s architecture students in their final project—a precast/prestressed concrete hospitality build in downtown Denver. Hartnett judged alongside industry players, agreeing with Tingerthal that “it’s a neutral place for us all to focus efforts on preparing students.”
Recently, Tpac expanded their NAU relationship thanks to the PCI Foundation grant. Davis noted, “the extra time spent at school helps solve personnel issues,” referring to a student who brandished a resume during a yard tour, “and improves industry quality itself.”
Empathy-Driven Education
Timothy Womack, Assistant Professor of Practice in CM at NAU, knows from experience that “projects go smoother when architects understand builders’ constraints and builders understand architects’ workflows.” NAU’s Construction Management program focuses on building empathy, which Lien supported, “better understanding reduces miscommunication and backtracking, and faster projects save time and money.”
This approach began when the department identified a need for synergy. NAU previously had separate labs for electrical, soils, plumbing studies, etc., “but that didn’t prepare them for the real world where they combine into one product,” recalled Tingerthal. In 2012, they revamped the lab area adopting vertical and horizontal integrations as NAU’s Construction for Practice (C4P) Lab. Dymond reported students now “see how materials work together and grasp why they can’t just move plumbing over an inch.”
The lab’s capstone project requires sophomores, juniors, and seniors collaborate as builders, architects, and project managers. “By graduation, they’ve gained empathy for all roles they’ll manage,” Womack explained. This achieves a 98% job placement rate. Dane Lind, Tpac Project Manager Assistant, observed during a student tour that “they understood enough to be curious about our processes.” If students are able to get more from a precast yard tour, then they’re more likely to keep precast in mind.
Precast Concrete Innovation and Sustainability
The PCI Foundation funds a precast/prestressed concrete course for Spring 2026. “The course will cover how precast works, specification, hands-on manufacturing, and innovative building technologies like carbon capture,” detailed Tingerthal.
Fellow mechanical engineering Assistant Professor and researcher Jennifer Wade, Ph. D, informs the incorporated innovation topics, “Precast is sustainable—durable, reliable, with thermal inertia and great albedo,” Wade stated. “Its largest CO₂ source is portland cement, used in the last 150-200 years, while concrete has existed for thousands.” Wade studies differences between portland cement and trapped carbon alternatives. “The gap between lab discoveries and manufacturing adoption remains wide,” she admitted, hoping the grant’s professional involvement will bridge her research with industry. The entire construction industry stands to benefit as more pieces of the looming greenhouse gas problem are solved.
How Precast Concrete Benefits Learning
True to their method of integration, NAU has three programs participating in the IBT Precast grant: Construction Management, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and weekly seminars. Weekly seminars attract non-CM majors, including a psychology student recruited by Hensel Phelps. Womack noted, “with mental health being another industry crisis, incorporating people like her makes meaningful impact.”
Though the grant-funded course hasn’t started enrollment, precast is now “integral to our lab,” said Womack, “because the importance of pre-planning, sticking with a plan, coordinating, and communicating are all enhanced by the precast.”
The grant came to fruition mid-semester, so mid-semester, professors created a design change from brick to precast. “We throw in mistakes like wrong materials or measurements,” added Dymond, “so this material change order was typical.”
Once the grant came through, Womack leveraged increased Tpac access, having Lind zoom into classrooms as a supplier. EnCon United engineers made shop drawings, which students then reincorporated into their designs. Students chose architectural finishes, giving them intimate knowledge of precast’s incredible adaptability.
Although not all the teams were able to complete the installation of the wall panels this year, Womack was still impressed. “I was not expecting the precision we achieved,” he said, crediting EnCon United’s donations of time, materials, and hydraulic installation rigs, plus Lind’s personal involvement. “The result was an elevated learning experience for all, and we’re excited to continue this,” Womack stated.
Solving Labor Shortage Via Gender Diversity
Dymond and Womack noted that as the academic trend swings back in favor of the trades, it has brought more women with it. “This is a great industry, with a lot of opportunities in a lot of different areas, so we have room for everyone,” said Womack. This year’s PCI Big Beam contest team, mentored by Dymond and described as “much more enthusiastic,” comprises of mostly young women.
One of those students, Isabella Velasco, visited EnCon headquarters recently. She switched to engineering thanks to the lab piquing her curiosity, “I wondered why it was always busy,” Velasco recalled. After losing passion for dental hygiene, “once I found math was involved, I switched to engineering.” Graduating this year from Civil Engineering, she appreciates the head-start from the grant, “you’re working and building connections during school.”
Conclusion
The EnCon United-NAU partnership demonstrates how academia and industry can collaboratively address workforce and sustainability challenges. By fostering empathy, technical rigor, and innovation, the initiative prepares students while providing companies with adaptable talent, setting precedent for cross-sector collaboration in solving global challenges.
Learn more about Encon United at enconunited.com.
THANK YOU TO ALL THE VENDORS WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE CM LAB FINAL PROJECT:
• ALP Supply, Tony Cuttone
• EnCon United Company
• Hilti, Fredrick Auer
• Innovative Brick Systems, Sherry Cooney
• JVI, Heidi Zieman & Chris Walk-Faust
• MetroBrick, Michael Mizer
And a special thanks to Paul Kramer & Dane Lind for their personal donations!
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