Jim Rowings gave a keynote presentation for the CIB Board in June 2021 on the theme of improving collaboration between academia and industry, which can be seen here. In this follow-up episode of CIB in Conversation, recorded in August 2021, Don talked to him about his background and early career, and how he came to lead the set up of Kiewit Corporation’s university in Nebraska USA.
Jim started his career in construction working as a boilermaker while working his way through school. Upon graduation with a BS degree from Purdue in 1975 he joined Aramco in Saudi Arabia as a construction engineer, then returned to Purdue in 1979 and completed an MSCE and PhD while teaching and conducting research. Upon completion he developed the construction program at University of Kansas and then led to top Construction Engineering program in the US at Iowa State University for 15 years as it’s Professor-in-Charge. Jim was recruited to join Kiewit in 2001 to work in the area of organizational development. Jim moved to Boston in 2004 to lead the Organizational Development activities for Mass Electric. He returned to Omaha and led the establishment of Kiewit University over a decade ago and currently oversees the technical development programs for the employees across 5 colleges, 8 core schools and several technical schools. The conversation with Jim will be of interest to young academics and industry academics as well as anyone interested in talent development in the industry and improving collaboration between academia and industry.
