Wright State University offers an innovative, one-year, Master of Science in Logistics and Supply Chain Management degree. This program is delivered in a blended format, with five on-campus residencies followed by online instruction that is geared towards working professionals. A frequent theme in our conversations with Supply Chain professionals is their search for on-going, dynamic, knowledge networks of other supply chain professionals to assist in their efforts to transform their supply chain operations. Professional associations, online discussion groups, and informal networking have grown over time as sources of this store of knowledge, but often are lacking in the deep relationships among members required for knowledge sharing. To address these needs, students are organized into two cohorts per year, starting in January and July. The cohort structure of our masters program provides a means to create, grow and build these relationships among supply chain professionals. The development of these relationships can provide benefits to students and alumni, and it also provides benefits to sponsoring organizations.
Each student completes a major applied project in partial fulfillment of the degree requirements. Completing an applied project demonstrates mastery of supply chain management principles and best practices taught in the program. This capstone project is the final hurdle for achieving the M.S. degree, and generally requires a six to nine month effort on the part of the student. Many of our students enter the program with specific projects identified by their sponsoring organization. Each project has an organizational sponsor and an academic advisor that is a subject matter expert in the particular field. I’ve described a few example projects in this brief article.
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