AC 2008-2704: DESIGN AND DELIVERY OF A GRADUATE-LEVEL PROJECT
MANAGEMENT COURSE FOR EXPERIENCED ENGINEERING
PROFESSIONALS: COLLABORATIVE, APPLIED LEARNING FOR
DISTRIBUTED TEAMS
Wayne Pferdehirt, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Wayne P. Pferdehirt, PE, AICP, is the director of graduate distance degree programs for the
College of Engineering and the assistant chair of the Dept. of Engineering Professional
Development. Prior to joining UW-Madison in 1991, Wayne directed the Midwest solid waste
consulting services of CDM, an international environmental consulting firm. Wayne also directed
environmental, transportation, and water resource engineering projects for Envirodyne Engineers,
conducted energy conservation and cogeneration studies for Argonne National Laboratory, and
managed flood studies for the Army Corps of Engineers. Wayne's technical expertise is in solid
and hazardous waste reduction and management, and natural resource management. He has a BS
in engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University, and an MS in civil engineering with an
emphasis in regional planning from Northwestern University.
Jeffrey Russell, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jeffrey S. Russell, PhD, PE, is professor and chair in the Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering and a co-founder of the Construction Engineering and Management program at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has a BS degree in civil engineering from the University of
Cincinnati, has MS and PhD degrees from Purdue University, and is a registered professional
engineer in Wisconsin. He served as editor-in-chief of the ASCE Journal of Management in
Engineering (1995-2000) and as founding editor-in-chief of the ASCE publication Leadership
and Management in Engineering (2000-2003). He is presently Chair of the ASCE Committee on
Academic Prerequisites for Professional Practice, which is charged with defining the future
education requirements necessary to practice civil engineering at the professional level.
John Nelson, U. of Wisconsin-Madison
John Nelson, PE, is adjunct advising faculty. Prior to joining the faculty, John was a consultant to
the building design and construction industry. Over a three-decade period, he served as Project
Engineer, Department Head, Project Manager, Vice President and Chief Executive Officer at
Affiliated Engineers. Under John's leadership, Affiliated Engineers became a nationally
recognized engineering firm in the area of building dynamic systems for large and complicated
projects. His background includes design, applications and research experience with dynamic
building systems, along with business and project management. He has participated in over 100
projects across the U.S., involving major companies and organizations such as National Institutes
of Health, Genentech, Inc., Texaco, Inc., United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S.
Geological Survey, Honeywell, Amoco Corporation, Lands End, Wisconsin Electric (WEPCO),
American Family Insurance Company, Bayer, Inc. and J. I. Case. His project experience ranges
from science and technology, health care, medical sciences, research, infrastructure, to office
buildings. John's academic training is in Mechanical Engineering, with a bachelor degree from
Bradley and a Masters from UW-Madison. In addition to being on the faculty, John currently
serves as a business and management consultant to the architectural, engineering and construction
industry.
Amy Shenot, U. of Wisconsin-Madison
Amy Shenot is Information Processing Consultant/Instructional Designer at Engineering
Professional Development, University of Wisconsin-Madison. She holds a Bachelor of Business
Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Masters in Education from
Western Washington University. Her experience includes teaching, training, and helping
instructors develop distance learning and use a variety of synchronous and asynchronous
© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007