Reverse-Hierarchy Mentoring in Community-Centered Civil Engineering and Construction Management Education: A Competency-Based Case Study

Abstract

This study presents and evaluates a competency-based community-centered model for civil engineering and construction management education in which one first-year or sophomore student was paired with one senior student on a nonpaid course-related project experience supervised by municipal and/or private-sector engineering or construction professionals. Implemented at a Hispanic-Serving Institution, the model connects cross-level mentoring, authentic community-based projects, and bounded leadership opportunities for less-experienced students. Thirty-one paired teams completed 31 projects; the evaluated cohort included 62 students (31 first-year/sophomore students and 31 seniors; among the seniors, 21 were civil engineering majors and 10 were construction management majors). All participants completed an anonymous end-of-project survey aligned with the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)-related outcomes and Bloom-informed higher-order learning activities. Descriptive results indicate moderate perceived gains across design/drafting, site/field exposure, learning and skill development, and role-specific leadership or mentoring outcomes. Open-ended responses were analyzed separately from Likert-type items and indicate that students valued exposure to authentic constraints, mentorship, teamwork, and professional communication. The results are translated into curricular implications for early professional exposure, structured cross-level mentoring, industry/community coordination, and explicit outcome mapping. The model offers a scalable approach for programs seeking to connect civil engineering and construction management curricula with authentic practice while supporting leadership development from the beginning of the undergraduate experience.