Burns School Establishes Home Builders Academy

The Franklin L. Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management at the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business was awarded a $100,000 HELP Grant from the National Housing Endowment Jan. 11, 2017. The grant allows the Burns School to establish the Burns School Home Builders Academy in partnership with Oakwood Homes, Precision Building Systems and the Colorado Construction Institute.

The Burns School Home Builders Academy creates a hands-on learning experience for construction management students at the University of Denver, by partnering with local homebuilder industry partners to create a home building learning lab. Students will be exposed to the home building process and the management of that process through the lab, and will also experience the business aspects of planning and running the many homebuilder supply chain entities needed to support the industry. In addition to the hands-on learning lab, the Burns School at DU is also developing a fully online non-degree Home Builders Academy Certificate comprised of a series of short courses designed to address the keys topics associated with building, managing, and growing the residential construction company. The online certificate program is anticipated to launch in fall 2017.

“Industry is really struggling right now with labor, not just labor in field to build homes, but also labor to manage the process and getting homes built,” says Jay Small, president of Precision Building Systems.

“The goal of the Academy is to become a resource to the home building community by helping fill the educational and skills gap in the industry through the various outreach curricular activities and learning opportunities,” says Barb Jackson, director of the Burns School. “Anyone who knew Franklin L. Burns, knew he was a community builder first and a homebuilder second. Being a resource to the community is a legacy of the Burns School.”

The Burns School will also engage with high schools, community colleges and adult students who are interested in residential construction education.

“The University of Denver has a long, rich and deep history of engaging our students and faculty in the marketplace,” says Brent Chrite, dean of the Daniels College of Business. “Central to our approach to management education is the recognition that preparing students for a 21st century economy cannot be done inside a classroom.”