St. Joe’s students can now major and minor in supply chain management through the department of decision and system sciences (DSS) in the Haub School of Business.
The programs provide students with courses in project management, modern supply chain practices and business analytics.
“To offer a supply chain major means that our students can have this visibility in a world where suddenly the demand is very evident to them,” said Virginia Miori, Ph.D., chair of DSS.
The supply chain minor was added in fall 2021 and the major in fall 2022.
After the pandemic, many universities recognized the need for such courses, according to Monika Blaumueller, founder of Blue-Mill, a Maryland-based firm that specializes in supply chain agility and resilience.
“The pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities and fragilities of supply chains . . . that’s made everybody aware that we need to make our supply chains better,” Blaumueller said. “There’s been a lot of reshoring of manufacturing capabilities.”
Blaumueller was on the Hawk Hill campus Feb. 10 to give a talk on a global supply chain network that could benefit Ukraine. Blaumueller is currently working on a project with the United Nations dedicated to helping rebuild Ukraine after the Russian-Ukrainian war.
In an interview with The Hawk, Blaumueller said she took a class on supply chain management while studying at Georgetown University.
“I thought that was one of the most valuable things we talked about, and I’m really glad that I kept learning about supply chains,” Blaumueller said.
Erica Triolo ’23, who is minoring in supply chain management, was interested in a career in supply chain management even before she came to St. Joe’s.
“They didn’t [originally] offer it here and then I found out that they did, and I took it as my DSS elective my junior year,” Triolo said. “It was a supply chain analytics class, and I really liked it, so I decided to make it my minor.”
There will be a 28% increase in supply chain management positions from 2021 to 2031, which is much faster than the average growth of approximately 4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Professionals in the industry agree there is an urgent need for more universities to offer courses in supply chain management, said Richard Valentino, senior supply chain manager at Biocodex, a North Jersey-based pharmaceutical company.
“There continues to be an evolving recognition of the importance of supply chain management as a distinct profession in the business community,” Valentino said.