Cim Students Put Stamp On Mtsu Campus

Through two weeks of rain, wind, and cold temperatures, Concrete Industry Management students placed a decorative pad featuring the athletic logo of Middle

Through two weeks of rain, wind, and cold temperatures, Concrete Industry Management students placed a decorative pad featuring the athletic logo of Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro. This fast-track project took months to coordinate, reports Heather Brown, Director and Associate Professor of the CIM program at MTSU, one of six campuses offering a business-intensive curriculum that awards students a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Concrete Industry Management. But, she affirms, the two weeks spent executing the project became a labor of love for our entire CIM program.

MTSU’s Murphy Center Complex, encompassing the Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center and Johnny Red Floyd Stadium, now is furnished with a 1,400-sq.-ft. concrete pad that will be used by media trucks covering campus events. The $17,000 installation bears an engraving of the university’s mascot Û Lightning, a blue winged horse Û as part of the white-and-royal blue MT logo.

Under the guidance of participating concrete industry professionals, CIM students were actively involved in setting formwork, placing and finishing 20 yards of concrete, casting color, setting stamps, etching the MT logo, removing forms, and sealing the finished product. According to Prof. Brown, the project provided an opportunity to educate students in a way that could never be achieved in the classroom: All students were on site at one point, assisting and learning each aspect of construction. The companies that participated became teachers during the project, coaching students through the many processes of decorative concrete.

Eleven companies and organizations provided in-kind gifts totaling $15,000 to assist project completion. Contributors included American Society of Concrete Contractors, Butterfield Color, Decorative Concrete Council, Dusty & Sons, Inc., Fritz Pak, L.M. Scofield, Nashville Ready Mix, Oakley Construction, Stan Reece Concrete Inc., Stardek, Inc., and Landmark Homes of Tennessee.

CIM student Michael Nelson confirms that the decorative slab installation was successful both as a learning experience and as a feat of considerable craftsmanship. I could not have asked for a more diverse project that offered so many opportunities to learn new skills, he asserts.

Adds fellow CIM student Jerrub Hammrich, We were able to incorporate school spirit with the art of decorative concrete.