“Consistently achieving a top 10 ranking helps us build credibility with industry,
maintain visibility with students and parents, and attract top quality faculty. As
the No. 7 program in a highly competitive field of universities, we offer students
an outstanding educational program that is nationally recognized.”
We are passionately dedicated to pursuing organizational excellence and a culture
of continuous improvement to effectively steward our resources and build the Harbert
College of Business brand.
The Harbert College of Business Supply Chain Management program continues to rank among the nation’s best.
Gartner, a U.S.-based research and advisory firm, released its “Top 25 Undergraduate Supply
Chain Management University Undergraduate rankings” on Wednesday, June 24, and listed
Auburn No. 7 – placing the program inside the Top 10 in three of its past four rankings.
“The Auburn Supply Chain Management program is very pleased to be ranked in the top
10 of the Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 Undergraduate Programs for 2020,” said Brian Gibson, Wilson Family Professor in Supply Chain Management at the Harbert College and Executive
Director of the Center for Supply Chain Innovation. “Consistently achieving a top 10 ranking helps us build credibility with industry,
maintain visibility with students and parents, and attract top quality faculty.
“As the No. 7 program in a highly competitive field of universities, we offer students
an outstanding educational program that is nationally recognized.”
Sixty-seven U.S. and Canadian programs were surveyed by more than 3,000 industry professionals.
Methodology used to rank North America’s top programs included program scope (curriculum),
industry value (starting salaries for new graduates, internships, industry recruiter
rankings), and program size. Auburn ranked among the leaders in program scope and
size.
Harbert College's Supply Chain Management program, which requires an internship graduation,
invites some of the nation's leading firms to campus.
Dana Stiffler, VP and Analyst at Gartner, noted there was “very little difference”
between the programs near the top of the rankings. “When you get to the Top 5 and
the Top 10, the differential between the programs was very small,” she said. “What
this reflects over the years is that so many of these programs, especially at the
top half of the rankings, are incredibly strong. They have all of the elements that
industry and Gartner has really asked for.”
Gibson added that the ranking also indicates to employers that Auburn Supply Chain
Management graduates are well-prepared. “Our widely recognized internship program
and comprehensive curriculum are appealing to industry,” he said. “These capabilities
exist thanks to a faculty team that is committed to continuous improvement and adapting
content to the dynamic changes in supply chains.”
Supply Chain Management at Harbert College, first introduced as marketing and transportation
at Auburn in the 1960s, became its own department on June 8. With 560 students enrolled
in May, the supply chain management major at the Harbert College of Business equips
students to handle the efficient management of the flow of goods across the global
marketplace—a process that grows increasingly complex and time sensitive on an almost
daily basis.
“Our faculty are highly diverse, industry experienced, student focused, research active,
and integrate every course with real world problem solving as directed by our industry
partners. Those facts support an educational program that recruiters love. Highly
focused on student experiences, placement and career success. It is the way we believe
business education should be done.”
Harbert College’s multi-faceted curriculum equips students with the conceptual knowledge,
analytical skills, and strategic insights needed to manage this complexity across
the plan, buy, make, deliver process. Part of the program’s strengths is a mandatory
– and vetted – internship directed through its Professional Development Program. Harbert
College’s highly sought-after supply chain management graduates gain valuable, real
world experiences via required internships, case competitions, and analytical projects.
The average starting salary for a Harbert College of Business Supply Chain Management
graduate in May of 2020 was $60,500.
Not only is the new department home to the Center for Supply Chain Innovation, where
scholars, students, and external partners collaborate to advance knowledge, drive
thought leadership, and create practical solutions for supply chain stakeholder communities,
but it also sponsors an annual symposium among industry leaders – Fusion – and is the new home of an elite publication, the Journal of Business Logistics. Glenn Richey, Eminent Scholar in Supply Chain Management, and Beth Davis-Sramek, Gayle Parks Forehand Professor in Supply Chain Management, co-edit the journal.
“Our faculty are highly diverse, industry experienced, student focused, research active,
and integrate every course with real world problem solving as directed by our industry
partners,” said Richey. “Those facts support an educational program that recruiters
love. Highly focused on student experiences, placement and career success. It is the
way we believe business education should be done.”
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