Top Twenty for Supply Chain Specialty

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2007” has rated the University of Arkansas’ supply chain management and logistics specialty at 19^th among the public and private schools offering such specialties.

“We are very pleased to be included in the U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of graduate supply chain management/logistics programs,” said Tom Jensen, Wal-Mart Lecturer in Retailing and chair of the department of marketing and logistics in the Sam M. Walton College of Business. “It is a great honor and recognition for our faculty, students, and staff. 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 ten, for example, Michigan State University or University of Tennessee, have been recruiting our doctoral students to be faculty and teach supply chain management/logistics at their institutions.”

 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 graduate 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 41 key logistics executives from 23 national and international companies. This support enables us to greatly enhance the quality of our undergraduate and graduate programs in transportation and logistics.”

Jensen said: “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.”

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. 

U.S. News ranked the Walton College 11^th place among the public graduate business schools who offer the supply chain specialty.

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

Last fall, the U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges 2006” rated the Walton College’s undergraduate supply chain management and logistics specialty 17^th among the approximately 100 public and private schools that offer such specialties and 14^th among the public schools.

 “This academic ranking can be attributed to the collective efforts of our faculty, staff and students, alumni and friends,” said Dan Worrell, dean of the Walton College. “In addition, this national recognition of our efforts in supply chain management and logistics indicates the increasing quality of our faculty, students and relationships with business and industry in this critical area.”