Supply Chain Specialty 14th in Nation

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The U.S. News & World Report’s annual guide, America’s Best Colleges 2007, has rated the supply chain management and logistics specialty in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas in a tie for 14^th place among public undergraduate business schools.

Among both public and private business schools, the Walton College supply chain management and logistics specialty was ranked in a tie for 19^th place.

“We are very pleased to be included in the U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of supply chain management/logistics programs,” said Tom Jensen, Wal-Mart Lecturer in Retailing and chair of the Walton College department of marketing and logistics. “It is a great honor and recognition for our faculty who have developed the programs and taught the students and to our students who have performed in the classroom and on the job. Our academic programs have grown in both quantity and quality over the past few years. We are especially pleased that universities ranked in the top 10, for example, Michigan State University, Ohio State University and University of Tennessee, have been recruiting our doctoral students to be faculty and teach supply chain management/logistics at their institutions.”

The U.S. News & World Report’s guide rated the University of Arkansas’ supply chain management and logistics specialty at 19^th among the public and private schools.

In the 2006 U.S. News rankings, the Walton College was ranked in 17^th place among both public and private undergraduate business schools offering supply chain specialties.

Jim Crowell, managing director of the Walton College Supply Chain Management Research Center, said: “We are very excited about being included again in this U.S. News ranking and the role the center has played in achieving that ranking. The research center connects us with transportation and logistics organizations in some of the nation’s largest corporations. Its board of directors is comprised of 46 key logistics executives from 24 national and international companies. This support enables us to greatly enhance the quality of our undergraduate and graduate programs in transportation and logistics.”

Jensen added: “Our Supply Chain Management Research Center has also been a big asset in our growth. The center’s board of directors has helped us build improved educational programs for our students and better prepare them for tomorrow’s job market. These relationships have also created research opportunities for our business faculty that in turn benefits the member companies.”

Other top-rated universities with supply chain management and logistics specialties include: Massachusetts Institute of  Technology (Sloan); Arizona State University (Carey), Ohio State University (Fisher), Pennsylvania State University (Smeal), University of Maryland, College Park (Smith), and Carnegie Mellon University.

The Supply Chain Management Research Center in the Walton College, established in 1996, supports transportation and logistics faculty, student career fairs and internships, and research with business and industry. This year, the center partnered with FedEx Freight and a host of corporate sponsors, to sponsor an international graduate logistics case competition held in Fayetteville. Major universities from the United States and Europe were represented in the case competition.

In the same 2007 rankings, the Walton College overall continued to be ranked among the top 25 public undergraduate business programs and in the top 50 public and private undergraduate business schools.

The rankings were determined through a U.S. News survey, which each year asks business school deans and senior faculty to rate the more than 500 public and private undergraduate business programs accredited by the AACSB International — the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.