Nevada college to offer BAS in logistics

The new four-year logistics degree at Truckee Meadows Community College will be aimed at companies like Telsa that are moving distribution hubs to the state.    The Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents on June 12 approved a new Bachelor of Applied Science degree program in Logistics Operations Management to be offered by Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno.
   TMCC’s four-year logistics degree program, which will focus on preparing students to work in supply chain operations and planning, is the first and only one of its kind in Nevada, according to a statement from the school. TMCC will offer the new program starting with the fall semester of 2016 and will use its existing associate degree programs in Logistics Management and Operations Systems as feeder programs for the new bachelor’s degree.
   Students in the program will be prepared in the following areas of supply chain and logistics: manufacturing processes, Procurement, quality principles, warehousing, management, sustainability, safety, transportation, operations planning, and operations control.
   The community college said the degree is a response to a growing need for experienced logistics and supply chain related professionals in the area. TMCC said the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN) estimates in its latest EPIC economic impact study 140 new companies will enter the region in the next three to five years, 52 percent of them in the manufacturing sector.
   Electric carmaker Tesla, for one, agreed last fall to a $1.3 billion incentive package to build its battery factory, which it calls a “gigafactory,” outside Reno and will hire an estimated 6,500 employees alone.
   “There’s an absolute tsunami coming of opportunities,” said Dan Oster, industrial properties specialist and senior vice president at NAI Alliance. “In the next five years, EDAWN has registered 51,000 jobs – those are folks who have applied for economic development and training dollars associated with coming here.
   “The impact of that workforce surge is going to become the primary economic challenge of the next three to five years,” added Oster, who works with companies moving to Western Nevada and has heard firsthand about their workforce needs. “And that’s why we need this program.”
   “To me, the role of a community college is to be responsive, and to be responsive as quickly as possible,” said Dr. Maria Sheehan, president of TMCC. “That’s our role, that’s our responsibility. And that’s the exciting part – when you can do something that is responsive, that’s going to address certainly jobs for the future and economic revitalization.”
   “We fulfill TMCC’s mission of lifelong learning by providing a four-year degree option for people in the community already working in this field that haven’t been able to move up in their career without the bachelor’s degree,” said TMCC’s Dean of the Business Division Marie Murgolo-Poore. “Logistics students have not had an option to continue to bachelor’s studies in Nevada, and we want to keep these talented students in the state.”
   TMCC said representatives from various industries will serve on the advisory board and provide a direct channel of information concerning workforce needs in the supply chain and logistics, as well as input on curriculum and desired program outcomes.