Fort Lee Maj. Gen. Larry D. Wyche, left, and VCU President Michael Rao sign an agreement Dec. 4. to formalize the Master of Supply Chain Management program. (Photo courtesy of VCU)
Needing to know how to track a product from a manufacturer in Asia to a sales floor in Richmond could soon send some local businesspeople back to school.
VCU’s School of Business hopes to start accepting students for its new supply chain management program in fall 2014.
“It’s very relevant now,” said Chip Minor, interim chair of the Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics.
The master’s degree program was born when the Army Logistics University’s Combined Arms Support Command at Fort Lee approached VCU about its need for a graduate track centered on supply chain management, Minor said.
Chip Minor
The two groups worked together to create a program that would be beneficial both to military students and to those in – or hoping to join – the business world.
Supply chain management is crucial in both sectors, Minor said. The Army, for example, would use it when figuring out how to move troops – and all of the supplies that come with them – to a new base. A car manufacturer might use it to log the process of building a car, all the way from the mining of the iron ore to the dealership showroom.
The program will focus on innovation, creative thinking and the use of SAP enterprise software, a computer program the Army and businesses use to organize information, Minor said.
“It’s important to the Army, the idea of innovation,” Minor said. “They typically go into places with very little infrastructure. They need to be creative.”
The program is awaiting approval from the VCU Board of Visitors and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Minor said the cost of the program has not been determined.
He anticipates starting with about 20 students. One new professor, George Zsidisin, has been added for the program, and Minor said the school is recruiting a junior level faculty member to join the team.
Army students who take the program concurrently with the military’s Theater Logistics Studies Program should receive their master’s in about a year, Minor said. Civilians should complete the program within a year and a half.
Interested students should contact the department, although it will not begin accepting applications until approvals are received, Minor said.
VCU offers a bachelor’s of science degree in business with a concentration in supply chain management. It is working on offering a B.S. specifically in supply chain management, which Minor said could start as early as spring 2015, pending approval.
Minor said his department is also starting a new master’s program in business with a concentration in decision analytics.
It will be geared toward working professionals and will meet every other Friday and Saturday for 15 months, the university said.
That program has been approved and will begin in fall 2014.
Fort Lee Maj. Gen. Larry D. Wyche, left, and VCU President Michael Rao sign an agreement Dec. 4. to formalize the Master of Supply Chain Management program. (Photo courtesy of VCU)
Needing to know how to track a product from a manufacturer in Asia to a sales floor in Richmond could soon send some local businesspeople back to school.
VCU’s School of Business hopes to start accepting students for its new supply chain management program in fall 2014.
“It’s very relevant now,” said Chip Minor, interim chair of the Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics.
The master’s degree program was born when the Army Logistics University’s Combined Arms Support Command at Fort Lee approached VCU about its need for a graduate track centered on supply chain management, Minor said.
Chip Minor
The two groups worked together to create a program that would be beneficial both to military students and to those in – or hoping to join – the business world.
Supply chain management is crucial in both sectors, Minor said. The Army, for example, would use it when figuring out how to move troops – and all of the supplies that come with them – to a new base. A car manufacturer might use it to log the process of building a car, all the way from the mining of the iron ore to the dealership showroom.
The program will focus on innovation, creative thinking and the use of SAP enterprise software, a computer program the Army and businesses use to organize information, Minor said.
“It’s important to the Army, the idea of innovation,” Minor said. “They typically go into places with very little infrastructure. They need to be creative.”
The program is awaiting approval from the VCU Board of Visitors and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Minor said the cost of the program has not been determined.
He anticipates starting with about 20 students. One new professor, George Zsidisin, has been added for the program, and Minor said the school is recruiting a junior level faculty member to join the team.
Army students who take the program concurrently with the military’s Theater Logistics Studies Program should receive their master’s in about a year, Minor said. Civilians should complete the program within a year and a half.
Interested students should contact the department, although it will not begin accepting applications until approvals are received, Minor said.
VCU offers a bachelor’s of science degree in business with a concentration in supply chain management. It is working on offering a B.S. specifically in supply chain management, which Minor said could start as early as spring 2015, pending approval.
Minor said his department is also starting a new master’s program in business with a concentration in decision analytics.
It will be geared toward working professionals and will meet every other Friday and Saturday for 15 months, the university said.
That program has been approved and will begin in fall 2014.