Clarkson University Student Thomas Haynes of Constantia, N.Y., Awarded AGC Scholarship

2013 Dec 18

Clarkson University senior Thomas Haynes of Constantia, N.Y., was recently awarded the J. Keith Waters Memorial Scholarship from the Associated General Contractors New York State (AGC NYS) Scholarship program. Haynes, a civil engineering major, was a captain in the Clarkson University steel bridge team and is a member of the Potsdam Volunteer Fire Department. This summer, he worked as an intern at ACG member Barrett Paving Materials.

"Each year, Associated General Contractors gives out about 20 scholarships to students in colleges and universities across New York State, so we did well to win five," says Adjunct Associate Professor Spencer Thew, director of Clarkson's Construction Engineering Management (CEM) program.

The CEM studies are a concentration inside the civil engineering program that prepares students to go directly into the construction industry. Thew is in his 47th year of teaching at Clarkson, so he has seen an army of future builders go on to successful careers.

"We had 100 percent job placement last year," he notes. "With this training, the students can move up quickly in management, usually with large contractors. I just came back from a project site in New York City and several of my former students are working on the Bayonne Bridge. I run into them on almost every job site."

Associated General Contractors has helped along the way with a financial boost. Since 1988, the New York chapter has distributed $1 million in scholarships to New York-based college students working toward a degree in civil engineering, construction technology or construction management.

The Clarkson scholarship winners are blending their education with hands-on experience in the field.

Clarkson University launches leaders into the global economy. One in five alumni already leads as a CEO, VP or equivalent senior executive of a company. Located just outside the Adirondack Park in Potsdam, N.Y., Clarkson is a nationally recognized research university for undergraduates with select graduate programs in signature areas of academic excellence directed toward the world's pressing issues. Through 50 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, arts, sciences and health sciences, the entire learning-living community spans boundaries across disciplines, nations and cultures to build powers of observation, challenge the status quo, and connect discovery and engineering innovation with enterprise.