Being a professional constructor demands a strong dedication to ethical practices. Cultivating a strong sense of ethics allows constructors to fulfill their obligations to owners, the public, and their peers in the industry.

Given the crucial role of ethics in our field, we organize an annual ethics competition for students in accredited Construction Management programs. This event helps students apply their ethical knowledge to practical scenarios, underscoring the significance of ethics for future leaders in construction.

We provide an exceptional platform for students to evaluate an ethical dilemma, utilize the AIC Code of Ethics in their analysis, and argue the appropriate ethical response to the situation.

This year, the 2024 AIC Collegiate Ethics Competition gathered students from across the country to give oral and written presentations in response to the ethical prompt. We look forward to revealing the winners.

Winners of the 2024 AIC Ethics Competition

Each year, our judges select the overall school winner, an Oral Presentation winner, and a Written Response winner. We also select an individual winner from the pool of participating schools. Let’s review this year’s top performers.

Overall Winning School

This year, the University of North Florida (UNF) took home the overall award. Congratulations to the students from Jacksonville, Florida, for providing an excellent representation of their Construction Management degree program.

Oral Response Winners

– First place: University of North Florida. The North Florida team won the written response category for the second straight year. It’s also their third consecutive Top 2 finish. Congratulations on the achievement!

– Second place: Wentworth Institute of Technology. The students from Boston made a strong impact on our judges with their written responses.

– Third place: California Polytechnic University (Cal Poly) and John Brown University (JBU). We had a tie for third between last year’s overall winner, Cal Poly, and the students from John Brown out of Northwest Arkansas.

Written Response Winners

– First place: University of North Florida and John Brown. We had another tie, this time for first place between two of our top-performing schools during this year’s competition.

– Third place: California Polytechnic University. The students from San Luis Obispo, CA. continued their winning tradition by placing in the Top 3 for the second consecutive year.

Individual Award

This year, we would like to recognize Zachary Smith from the Wentworth Institute of Technology as the top presenter during the oral response portion of the competition. Zachary was a strong contributor to Wentworth’s success this year.

Thank You to Our Judges

We would like to thank the following AIC Board members for providing leadership during the 2024 AIC Collegiate Ethics Competition.

• Gregg Bradshaw, FAIC, CPC (Current President of AIC; Member of the Constructor Certification Commission (CCC) Board of Directors; AIC Fellow; Construction Manager – Joe D. Hall General Contractors, LLC)
• Murray Papendorf, MBA, FAIC, CPC (Board Member; Treasurer of AIC / CCC; AIC Fellow – LG Electronics USA)
• Easy Foster, AIC, CPC, RTSBA, LEED AP BD+C (Board Member; Executive Director of Planning & Construction – Conroe Independent School District)
• Hugh Cronin, AIC, CPC, LEED AP, PMP (Board Member; Owner of Cronin Construction Management)
• Mark Hall, FAIC, CPC (Board Member; President of Hall Construction Co., Inc.)
• Terri Hoffman (Board Member; CEO & Founder of Marketing Refresh)

Now, let’s review the ethical prompt each participating school was asked to address during the competition.

Ethical Prompt: Who Acted Unethically in a Building Collapse?

This year’s ethical prompt focused on a reinforced concrete building project that collapsed and led to the deaths of several workers. We asked the participating schools to assess the actions of the general contractor and several other parties involved in the project.

The schools were not asked to determine liability or a cause for the collapse but whether the various actions taken by the parties constituted an unethical and/or illegal activity that should lead to further investigation.

The students were asked to provide a written assessment of the parties’ actions contributing to the building collapse. The assessment needed to include a discussion of the parties’ actions in the context of the project climate and the construction industry.

We also asked the students to include recommendations for preventing any unethical or illegal activity from occurring in the future and to consider using the AIC Code of Ethics within their assessment.

For the oral presentation portion of the competition, the schools presented responses virtually before our panel of judges. We appreciate the thoughtful replies submitted by each school to address this critical ethical issue in construction.

Get Involved in Next Year’s AIC Ethics Competition

We appreciate everyone who participated in the 2024 AIC ethics competition. We hope that each student and the participating construction professionals walked away from the competition with a greater appreciation for ethics in construction.

– We invite you to learn more about how to get involved in next year’s AIC Collegiate Ethics Competition. Complete the form on this website page to inform us that you are interested in participating in next year’s competition. We appreciate your support!