Education
CURRICULUM
The SCM curriculum that all majors take at Bauer was designed to encompass the six key elements of the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model: plan, source, make, deliver, return, and enable. Students are required to take six courses (18 credit hours) that cover this end-to-end, cross-functional approach to supply chain management. In addition, students can also pursue three academic certificates (two courses each) from the elective credit hours afforded them by their degree plan. They are as follows: Strategic Sourcing, Advanced Analytics, and Energy Supply Chain. Some students may instead opt to utilize these elective credit hours for another major, making them a double major. Gartner has ranked the Bauer SCM program in the Top 25 SCM Programs in the US over the last three, two-year cycles. In 2022, the Bauer SCM program was recognized by Gartner as one of the Top Ten undergraduate SCM program in the nation, ranking number 9.
Professor Wayhan teaching the SCM 4350 class (Strategic Supply Management).
SPO Director Mohamad Wehbe, when he was a student, competing in the Halliburton Strategic Sourcing competition.
INDUSTRY COLLABORATION
One of the key elements of the SPO educational model is an
industry-academic collaboration, where practical, company-sponsored cases are embedded into the curriculum or offered as open competitions for newer SCM majors. This strategy allows students to combine SCM theory with practice, through challenging cases from companies such as Halliburton, TechnipFMC, LyondellBasell, and Schlumberger. Student teams analyze realistic category management data sets (often including annual spend across multiple years) and then present their strategic sourcing recommendations to executives from the respective companies. These competitions last approximately four weeks each to simulate the time intensity of an actual sourcing event.
EDUCATIONAL ENRICHMENT
Another key element of the SPO educational model is a series of educational enrichment
activities focused on leadership and soft-skills development. After significant due diligence, the
Humphrey Group was selected to provide the leadership curriculum for the SPO EEP. Two
seminars are now being offered to students selected to participate in the SPO EEP: Executive
Presence and Building Inspiring Presentations.
STUDENT DEVELOPMENT
Although a select group of SCM students participate in the SPO EEP, the SPO Executive Council works hard to make sure that all the SCM students are afforded student development opportunities in important content areas. Seminars on a variety of topics are presented by a senior executives from the Executive Council. Some of these topics include: Executive Influence, Effective Communication, Leadership, Interviewing Skills, and Conflict Management.
Executive Council member Morag McKnight providing wisdom and insights to SPO students during a Student Development workshop on Influence.
A large crowd (275+) of SCM students attend the first industry/academic symposium hosted by SPO and the Bauer Supply Chain Forum. The presentation was entitled 'Smart Contracts and Blockchain.
SYMPOSIUMS
Another way that SPO can provide educational enrichment activities to all SCM students is through academic/industry symposiums. SPO has partnered with the Bauer Supply Chain Forum to bring key industry speakers to campus to discuss cutting-edge SCM topics. The inaugural symposium was on Smart Contracts and Blockchain, with presentations by Darrren Shelton and Mark Waddleton. The intent is to have one symposium per year.