Construction Management Grads Pledge $50,000 Toward Conference Room in New Building

One of the greater San Francisco Bay Area’s leading builders of facilities for healthcare, bio-tech and micro-electronics companies has committed $50,000 to help fund a conference room in a new building planned for Cal Poly's College of Architecture and Environmental Design.

San Jose-based XL Construction Corp. is helping pay for the room to help construction management students, professors and industry leaders collaborate on projects. In the XL Construction Conference Room, students will be able to focus on team projects and practice the presentation skills necessary for class demonstrations, student competitions and entering the workplace. Faculty members will use the space for meeting with small groups of students and visiting practitioners, as well as for strategic instructional planning and departmental meetings.

The principal partners at XL Construction, founded in 1992, are Eric Raff and two 1983 graduates of Cal Poly’s construction management program, Dave Beck and Mario Wijtman.

“This is the first major gift from a company started and largely managed by Cal Poly construction management alumni,” said Allan Hauck, Construction Management Department head. “This represents a new milestone in that our program started just 30 years ago and we now have grads in significant positions in the construction industry able to support a program they experienced firsthand.”

“Nearly half of our project managers and engineers are Cal Poly grads,” said Beck, a vice president at XL Construction. “We all share a solid industry-oriented background we earned through our education at Cal Poly, giving us a tremendous start to our professional careers. We see this donation as a way for greater numbers of students to receive valuable skills, in turn providing our industry with the talent and resources needed for it to grow and prosper.”

Employees of XL Construction who are Cal Poly alumni are joining together to lend additional support through a matching donation program with the company.

“Cal Poly grads at XL Construction have enjoyed great success and have made a significant contribution to our company,” said Wijtman, a vice president at the firm. “We share a close connection to the construction management program. For this reason, XL Construction and our Cal Poly alums are proud to team up for this gift to help make the college’s new building a reality.”

“Increasingly our college exposes students to the growing call from clients for construction techniques that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly,” said R. Thomas Jones, dean of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. “XL Construction is recognized as a leader in building complex, technical construction projects, and is one of the first companies to build a bio-tech laboratory for a client to be submitted for 'gold' certification under the LEED-CI (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design -- Commercial Interiors)guidelines.

These kinds of projects save owners costs in the long run as well as saving resources for future community needs. We look forward to this growing partnership with a company whose ideals and practices so closely parallel our own.”

For more information about the new building, call Ray Ladd, the college's associate director of advancement, at (805) 756-7432.

For more information about XL Construction, visit www.xlconstruction.com.

Media Contact: Ray Ladd(805) 756-7432, rladd@calpoly.edu