The College of Charleston will offer a new supply chain management major in the School of Business beginning in the 2015 fall semester. The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education approved the major on October 2, 2014, setting the stage for the only undergraduate supply chain management major in the state.
“This new business program is an investment in the future of the College, the Lowcountry, and the State of South Carolina,” says President Glenn F. McConnell ’69. “Our new Supply Chain Management program is in response to members of the College and at-large community who identified that there are more jobs in supply chain management and operations than there are qualified graduates to fill them. Our new degrees are an effort toward filling that gap in a way that provides our students with a strong liberal arts background and the core competency needed to achieve success in their careers.”
RELATED: Fortune Magazine predicts 1.4 million supply chain workers needed by 2018.
Industry Reaction
Industry partners have heralded the exciting new major as an opportunity to recruit more employees with supply chain knowledge and applied learning experiences.
Photo from daimler.com
Marco Wirtz, President and CEO of Daimler Vans Manufacturing (DVM) in Ladson, S.C., has been a strong industry supporter of the students through new scholarships, relevant curriculum, and overall program leadership. “The Lowcountry has experienced significant growth in the past few years and with growth comes the need for experienced people in all areas of manufacturing. Therefore, Daimler Vans Manufacturing supports the state’s only undergraduate supply chain management major at the College of Charleston School of Business.”
“We look forward to working with interns in helping develop their applied learning which will position them for a successful career,” says Wirtz, a member of the School of Business Board of Governors.
About the Curriculum
“The supply chain management major will provide students an end-to-end view of the flow of products and services from raw material provider down to the customer, and the flow of valuable information back upstream for continuous improvement in product delivery,” says Joshua Davis, chair of the Department of Supply Chain and Information Management and associate professor in the School of Business. “Our goal is to develop the knowledge, skills, and industry partnerships to meet the needs of expanding manufacturing and information services companies in our region and across the U.S.”
Course curriculum in the supply chain management major will include planning and analysis, global logistics, operations strategy, Lean Six Sigma, production and operations management, procurement, and management information systems as well as electives in green supply chain, project management, and supply chain risk management.
