The Masonry Construction program is a cooperative alliance program conducted jointly between OSU-Okmulgee and several of Oklahoma's career technology centers. Masonry courses are offered exclusively at the technology centers' campuses. Required general education and support courses are offered at OSU-Okmulgee.

The Masonry industry offers vast opportunities with great pay for an individual who has developed skills that are needed in the Construction Industry. The construction industry, with 7.7 million workers, represents over 5% of our nation's workforce. The value of construction put in place in 2006 totaled $1.2 trillion, 9% of our country's gross domestic product (GDP). Residential spending totaled $639 billion and nonresidential spending totaled $559 billion. Continued strong growth in the commercial and retail construction industry, coupled with an aging skilled construction workforce, means there is a severe shortage of skilled workers. Nationwide the construction industry needs 210,000 new employees each year for at least the next ten years. Masonry is one of the oldest skilled crafts and it is used almost everywhere one looks, whether it is on a residential house, an archway in a park, a church building or a multi-story building.

The Masonry program teaches how to take brick, block or rock and create beautiful structures. Students will not only learn to read blueprints, and estimate of job, but also to lay-out, line up, and level as well as make arches and curved walls.

For more detailed information, please contact: Construction Technologies, 918-293-4742, information@okstate.edu or OSU-Okmulgee Cooperative Alliance Coordinator, 918-293-4913.

This program is part of a cooperative alliance agreement and major courses are available at select career technology centers.