BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT, LAND SURVEYING SPECIALIZATION

The SIUE Department of Construction offers a specialization in land surveying that meets Illinois requirements for licensure. The curriculum was approved by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) in June, 2007.

In Illinois, applicants to become a Surveying Intern (SI) must posses a baccalaureate degree in land surveying or a related science with at least 24 semester hours of land surveying courses. After passing the Land Surveyor in Training (LSIT) exam, applicants must complete four years of qualifying work experience under the direction of a licensed professional land surveyor to be eligible to sit for the examination to become a professional land surveyor (PLS).

The IDFPR Land Surveying Licensing Board has determined that the SIUE Construction Management degree program qualifies as a "related science." Students opting for the land surveying specialization must take an additional 11 hours of coursework over and above the requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Construction Management in order to obtain the required 24 semester hours of surveying courses.

The surveying coursework includes topics in construction surveying, legal aspects of land surveying, boundary surveys, survey computations and applications, and advanced survey systems. In addition, two elective courses are selected from a list of four, including remote sensing, computer mapping, and geographic information systems available from the Department of Geography, and land development offered by the Department of Construction.

The construction program, which blends a basic math and science core with engineering and management principles, was started in 1979 and is housed in the School of Engineering. With a 24 semester hour business minor, SIUE Construction students get a strong background in the fundamentals of running a business, an essential skill that most land surveyors need and engineering programs do not provide. The Construction program tends to attract students who like outdoor work, also an essential element for land surveyors. In practice, many larger contractors are bringing land surveying services "in-house" to capitalize on the surveyors' knowledge as part of a team of design and construction professionals.