Construction Management Degree Helps Graduate Rise Through the Ranks

From working as an intern during college to being a superintendent after graduation now, as the head engineer on a $65 million project to build a new museum in Saint Petersburg, Florida, Elsch Maisoh ’13 has been steadily climbing the ladder at Gilbane Building Company.

Maisoh started his studies at CCRI and then transferred to Roger Williams University to finish out his bachelor’s degree in construction management. Already having field experience and a head-start on his education, he says that his time at RWU allowed him to learn a lot more about the industry.

“I was fortunate enough to come to RWU with some field experience, so I could see the bits and pieces that I was able to directly apply to the field and industry while also picking out the pieces I knew I would need to still learn or strengthen during my time at Roger Williams,” Maisoh said.

He came into a construction economy that wasn’t great in Rhode Island after graduation but with these skills in his back pocket, Maisoh moved confidently into his role as a traveling superintendent, taking jobs in Massachusetts and Connecticut whenever they were available. From there, he was accepted into a management candidate acceleration program at Gilbane where he spent two years working in the various departments such as estimating, purchasing, scheduling and safety to gain a broader understanding of the company. All of this prepared him to make the jump into project engineering and managing.

Even six years after graduation, there are still times Maisoh finds himself pulling from the knowledge he gained at RWU. He says things like working on group projects, working through problems that come up on a site and building your own network is no different in the construction management program than when you’re in the real world.

“The school has a really good reputation and track record in the industry,” Maisoh said. “Companies will generally tell you that when they hire kids from Roger Williams they are the cream of the crop. They know the school and they know what kind of students they’re getting when they hire someone from Roger Williams.”