Universities offer logistics and supply chain masters

The programs are offered at Florida International University and the University of North Florida, which opened registration for its initial course Friday.

   Registration opened Friday for the inaugural course for the master of science in logistics and supply chain management at the University of North Florida’s (UNF) Coggin College of Business, which is Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accredited.
   The 32-hour program is designed to meet the graduate education needs of working individuals and is targeted at employees with three to 15 years of experience in the logistics and supply chain management field, according to the university’s website. 
   Students must have an undergraduate business degree from a regionally accredited institution with at least a 3.0 GPA or a minimum of two years of professional supply chain work experience with an undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited institution with at least a 3.0 GPA.
   “It’s a good program for people who want to transition into this industry,” said Dawn Russell, an associate professor of transportation and logistics at UNF, which is located in Jacksonville, Fla. “Specialized masters are phenomenal.”
   Russell said she hopes to have at least 25 students registered for the inaugural course, which is set to begin during the fall semester. Registration deadline is Aug. 9.
    The UNF program is one of the state’s two master of science in logistics and supply chain management programs along with Miami’s Florida International University (FIU), which is a 10-month, Saturday-only course beginning in August.
   Requirements for the FIU program include a bachelor’s degree or equivalent from an accredited institution; good standing at all previously attended colleges or universities; at least a 3.0 GPA in all upper-division classwork or a graduate degree with a minimum 3.0 GPA; and at least three years of professional work experience or a score of at least 500 on the GMAT or GRE.
   “It’s a real opportunity to contribute to the labor force in a very specialized high-end degree kind of program. We have this industry growing around us,” Russell said.
   “We are one of the first two to be approved, so it’s a real opportunity to serve the labor force, to bring more partners in to the students who are in the program, both graduate and undergraduate,” she added. “We live and breathe on community partnerships. You cannot build a labor force for a community you don’t know. … It creates opportunity for students and it creates an opportunity for businesses to find a labor force right here in the region.”