Dean Papajohn, University of Arizona, 2024 Outstanding Educator
The Outstanding Educator award is based on a nominee’s academic contribution as well as his/her work with students outside of the classroom and involvement with colleagues in the industry. Candidates for the award must be full-time, teaching faculty members with four years minimum teaching experience in an ACCE or ABET-accredited university construction program or construction-related engineering program.
Dean Papajohn (PE, PhD, Assoc. DBIA, ENV SP) is a Professor of Practice at the University of Arizona (UA) in the Civil Engineering Department where he draws upon his experiences in consulting and public service. Dean leads the Construction Engineering Management emphasis within Civil Engineering with a focus on “connecting industry with students.” Dean is the faculty advisor for the UA student chapters of the Associated General Contractors (ż) and the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) and helps lead UA Rise Together Mentorship for Women in Civil and Architectural Engineering at UA. Prior to becoming a professor Dean was a civil engineering project manager for Pima County Department of Transportation in Tucson, Arizona. Dean’s research interests include project delivery methods, including contributing to two AASHTO guidebooks on Post-Award Contract Administration for Highway Projects Delivered Using Design-Build and Construction Manager/General Contractor. Dean is currently active in an NSF research grant exploring strategies to improve engineering education.
Kendall Dewey, Purdue University, 2024 James L. Allhands Essay Competition
Kendall Dewey is a senior pursuing a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering and management at Purdue University. Outside of the classroom, Kendall enjoys spending time with her peers and friends. She is a member of the construction honors fraternity, Beta Tau, which hosts many different events for CEM students throughout the school year and plans the end of year CEM banquet. Aside from Beta Tau, Kendall is also a member of the Purdue Women's Club Basketball team. She practices regularly and travels with the team to play other schools all throughout the Midwest and other regions of the country. Kendall has taken full advantage of the strong construction network at Purdue and had the opportunity to intern for Messer and Swinerton over the last three summers. Upon graduation in May 2024, she plans on joining the Swinerton Builders team in Denver, Colorado as a project engineer.
James L. Allhands 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place Winning Essays, 2024:
First -Kendall Dewey, Purdue University
Second – Jacob Nelson, University of Maine
Third – Alivia DeGrotta, East Carolina University
Theodore Weidner, Allhands Essay Faculty Sponsor
With terminal degrees in both Architecture and Engineering and over 30 years of experience operating facilities from concept to demolition, Dr. Theodore Weidner focuses on improving knowledge and awareness of infrastructure maintenance to keep the built environment serviceable for future to meet the needs of individual owners and the public. His research focus utilizes data from individual organizations with the goal of finding patterns and best practices to ensure efficient and sustainable delivery of value by constructed infrastructure.
Infrastructure covers all parts of construction engineering including new construction, renovation, and demolition. Due to the complexity of the built environment the decisions to ensure high value interlock with many other areas of engineering and result in many collaborative opportunities.