Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

JOHNSON CITY – Most can probably recall scenes from the supply chain crisis that unfolded following the COVID-19 outbreak.
Transport trucks needing drivers. Ships languishing at sea. Storehouses overflowing with no way to move their product.
A range of experts have declared that crisis behind us, and are now examining what precisely caused this catastrophe.
“The supply chain crisis was caused by complex failures in the global supply network and logistics systems, which were strained at multiple points simultaneously,” said Dr. Matthew Jenkins, an assistant professor in the Department of Management, Marketing and Supply Chain.
Read more: ETSU expert weighs in on supply chain crisis.
And ETSU, which offers a bachelor’s degree in supply chain management, is equipping students to deal with real-world problems.
“Our students receive much more experience than they would in other programs working with technology that is actually used by managers in the field,” said Jenkins. “We bring in case studies and data from partner companies and integrate these into the classroom to simulate a real work environment as much as possible.”
When it comes to the technology students are trained in, ETSU is on the cutting edge, teaching elite analytics.
And professors have worked in the field, often at high levels for international companies.
Jenkins, for example, managed supply chain analytics for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and global supply chain operations for a subsidiary of Siemens Healthcare.
Jim Harlan, the AFG chair of Excellence in Business and Technology in the College of Business and Technology, served as vice president of Integrated Global Supply Chain for Eastman Chemical Company.
“By the time our students leave the program, they not only have book knowledge of supply chain management, they also gain practical experience, which is very important to employers,” said Jenkins.
Students getting hands-on learning opportunities is at the core of ETSU’s approach to education. Across a range of programs, ETSU aims to help students shift seamlessly from enrollment to employment.  
To learn more about the supply chain program, visit this site.