Colleges and universities continually struggle with providing high-quality education and have been forced to search for innovative ways to keep educational programs viable.
JRGF is pleased to be able to address this need by supporting education, grants and awards, specifically for academic leaders.
Faculty Training Camps
JRGF underwrites MCAA’s participation in the Mechanical Electrical Academic Consortium, or MEAC, an alliance of academic institutions, industry associations, contractors, foundations and manufacturers. Through this alliance, MEAC provides annual intensive education for the academics who teach mechanical systems and/or construction management courses. These camps offered since 2005, provide knowledge in mechanical systems to academics with a background in engineering or related disciplines. This industry-specific training, in turn, helps them better teach the subject matter to undergraduate students, thus nurturing the students’ interest in our industry.
Each camp is held in cooperation with a college or university construction program, ranging from 15-20 attendees a year, and six to eight academics and contractors provide the instruction. Funding covers participants’ hotel costs, instructors’ travel and hotel costs, meals, meeting facility fees and supplies.
The camps, which are typically three to four days in length, offer curriculum in plumbing systems and codes, isometric drawings, estimating plumbing and mechanical systems, Building Information Modeling, air conditioning systems and components, duct sizing, mechanical properties, testing and balancing, temperature controls, system commissioning, teaching methods, mechanical laboratory exercises and resources.
Faculty Continuing Education Grant
These grants encourage mechanical contractors to employ college or university faculty on a part-time basis by subsidizing the faculty member’s salary. By working in our industry, faculty gain a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities that students may face and are thus better prepared to advise them. This industry experience also helps faculty to better teach mechanical subject matter, so the students coming out of their classes are better prepared to excel in our industry.
Suggested Areas of Assistance:
- Provide project management, estimating, scheduling, and proposal preparation assistance
- Develop specific case study(s) relevant to the sponsoring company
- Develop and/or assist with training programs and materials
Faculty Candidate Process:
- Select an MCAA member company as the sponsor.
- Negotiate a salary (subsidized by the continuing education grant).
- Submit a grant application to the MCAA Career Development Committee for review and approval. The application must include:
- Sponsoring MCAA member company name and contact details (phone and email)
- Description of proposed activities with the company
- Brief narrative explaining how the opportunity benefits the company, the faculty member/institution with an established MCAA Student Chapter, and promotes the industry to students
- The MCAA Career Development Committee will determine the grant amount to be awarded to approved applicants and paid directly to the faculty member.
- Faculty candidate must complete a survey regarding the employment experience prior to the issuance of the grant funds.
All Applications due to Michele Hoffman.
MCAA GREATFUTURES
JRGF Student Scholarships
The John R. Gentille Foundation offers several scholarships as part of its commitment to funding the next generation of mechanical contracting leaders, providing students the opportunity to develop professional skills, knowledge and experiences.