The program concludes with a capstone course, Case “Considerable emphasis also is placed on the Studies in Logistics, that synthesizes concepts from study of modern manufacturing processes and their previous classes and helps students crystallize and apply supporting inventory management practices.” their knowledge to new and emerging problems.” Approaching logistics from a more modern perspective definitely is a growing trend. At the Institute for Defense and Business (IDB), where servicemen Project Based and women can earn various certificates or even pursue an MBA through IDB partnerships with Indiana These final projects, whether they’re of the capstone University’s Kelley School of Business and the Univervariety or more similar to Florida Tech’s recent Big sity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Brother Big Sister initiative, are highlights of logistics Business School, one of the more popular academic education. Not only do they provide students an acaMark Cramer options is Logistics for the 21st Century (Log21). demic forum during which they can demonstrate the cramer@idb.org “It was developed for early career logisticians knowledge and skills they’ve gained, but these big finawhose careers would potentially span a significant les also afford soon-to-be-graduates the opportunity to part of the 21st century,” explained Mark Cramer, tackle some real-world problems with those skills. president of the Institute for Defense and Business. “It “Prior to the beginning of classes, our students all is designed to ‘open the aperture’ of recently minted identify challenges they have where they work,” said logisticians—even if logistics may be a second career IDB’s Cramer. “Those problem statements are then field for some—to give them a look at cutting-edge synthesized and assigned to groups of students and on private sector practices and technologies, innovative the final day of the program, each group will brief out to ways to think about and approach challenges, and a panel of faculty and/or retired senior military officers. exposure to logisticians from other services, agencies These working groups challenge the participants’ anaand the private sector.” lytical and critical thinking skills, collaboration effectiveThese schools all cover the fundamentals of ness, and presentation capabilities.” Bradley Wootten supply chains, but their syllabus similarities do not Analysis and critical thinking are at the heart of bwootten@webster.edu preclude different colleges from also offering more higher education, but Cramer’s curriculum also stresses targeted—and specialized—coursework. the importance of collaboration. “For many participants “We include basic Department of Defense budget in Log21, this is the most ‘joint’ and ‘interagency’ proand contracting curriculum to sensitize them to the gram they have participated in during their careers, and importance and complexity of those topics,” added most likely the only military education program that Cramer. also includes private sector participants,” he said. “The And at Webster, in addition to spending time on breadth, depth and diversity of their logistics career warehouse management and layout, cost and price network is enhanced, as is their understanding and analysis, and investment returns, professors might appreciation of how different organizations approach customize the lectures on the fly. “One of our greatest similar challenges.” strengths is our ability to develop a classroom climate Webster takes an analogous tactic to final projects: that fosters collegial discourse and challenging interStudents are urged to take on problems with which Denver Tolliver, Ph.D. action among our students,” said adjunct professor they may have already had some personal interaction. denver.tolliver@ndsu.edu and procurement area mentor Bradley Wootten. “For their capstone, they’re encouraged to select some“Our professors recognize that any given class conthing that is directly relevant to their work or professional sists of a diverse group of students, each having his or her own unique interests that will serve to benefit their organization directly, or them experiences and expertise. We strive to bring this out and allow all personally,” Wootten said. students to benefit from the collective wisdom of the group. Webster Obviously, this latitude creates the potential for a wide variety of believes that sharing experiences, best practices in real-world envipossible outcomes, keeping professors and administrators on their ronments, and knowledge gained from recent deployments benefits toes. “One of our most memorable projects consisted of the developeveryone, students and faculty alike.” ment of a purchasing system for use by the National Zoo’s concession Like at the other schools, the Master of Managerial Logistics proprogram,” continued Wootten. “In another recent, and perhaps more gram at North Dakota State University (NDSU) covers the typical terconventional, example, a student developed a contract management ritory—courses in logistics systems, advanced supply chain planning, system for use by the contracting officer’s representatives in her international logistics management, adaptive planning in logistics agency. This effort spanned both contract management and informasystems, and enterprise resource planning. These are the building tion technology management skills, with a bit of MBA mixed in as it blocks that encourage a broad understanding of the technological and relates to the accounting aspects of contract administration.” operational context of modern logistics. Spanning various specialty fields is relatively common for 21st“That nucleus is then complemented by courses in crisis analysis century logisticians, and while the capstone projects at NDSU are and homeland security and technology advances in logistics,” said more regimented, they nevertheless require plenty of interdisciplinary Denver Tolliver, Ph.D., director of Transportation & Logistic Graduate contemplation. Programs at North Dakota State University. “Courses in acquisition “Students begin by conducting independent assessments of the contracting, logistics decision analysis, transportation systems security logistical infrastructure and capabilities of a nation or region,” and organizational change management round out the curriculum. explained Tolliver. “The project is scenario-based, and focuses on one 20 | MAE 8.2
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