This past spring, supply chain and logistics management students in the Barney School of
Business completed a meaningful experiential project where they explored the strategic sourcing processes and needs from three local aerospace manufacturers and examined use of a sourcing platform (ConnexCT) provided by Connecticut’s Manufacturing Extension Partner, CONNSTEP.
As a part of SCHL 340 (Introduction to Supply Chain & Logistics Management), teams worked through several rounds of interviews with the supply chain professionals of the local manufacturers and investigated criteria and tools used for global sourcing decisions. After interviewing Amy Serrano ‘25 and Mason Krupinski ‘25, it became clear that this out-of-the classroom experience was not only educational, but left them feeling prepared for their future careers.
Serrano was an accounting major who took a variety of business classes during her first two years at Barney thathelped show her what facets of business she is most interested in. One day, Professor David Stec mentioned to her Barney’s newest major, supply chain and logistics management. This caught her interest, and she decided to give it a try without knowing that it would become her second major. Similarly, Krupinski ‘25 chose to change his major to supply chain and logistics management because he felt it was a focused application to complement his previous Barney studies, making it easier for him to visualize and conceptualize the data that he was analyzing.
The course project work afforded students the opportunity to ask the businesses directly about their supply chain operations. “I had the opportunity to meet with three supply chain managers,” Serrano explains, “who gave me and my team an overview of their business operations and processes. Every meeting had a connection with Professor Stec’s lessons, which was most helpful when it came to meeting with the supply chain managers.”
Krupinski was on a team with two other students tasked to identify what manufacturers are looking for in terms of lead times, production rates, and supplier quality requirements. Krupinski says his favorite aspect of the project is the out-of-the-classroom experience he received. “Not only was this able to prove to me that supply chain and logistics was the field I wanted to remain in,” he says, “but it also encouraged my passion for the subject.”
Serrano similarly says interacting with real industry professionals was most helpful. “During the lessons, we learned so much about supply chain that when we had the opportunity to interact with the supply chain managers, my team and Idid not struggle to understand anything we discussed during the interviews. The lessons were clear and easy to understand, and the class size was small. Therefore, it did not feel much like a class where I would struggle participating. It was a very interactive class that I enjoyed being in.”
Serrano’s first passion at Barney was accounting, which led her to a summer internship at Ernst & Young. During this internship, she had a great advantage working with their supply chain clients, since she was able to apply her supply chain knowledge to her work. She is grateful that the Barney School has helped her improve on many skills that she was not expecting to gain until after college, including the expectations of being a professional, communication skills, and teamwork. She says that many of the core classes offered in Barney help construct these skills and allow students to focus on improving themselves. In addition, she says professors are always pushing students to be the best they can be and promoting student success within the school.
Amy Serrano ‘25 , Barney School of BusinessThe lectures that we got in class were clear and very easy to get the hang of. With the help of the experiential project, I got to have a deeper understanding of what it is like to be working in the real world and how to communicate with people in the workforce. At first it was intimidating, but once I got to interview Collins Aerospace, I felt more confident.
Krupinski says that this experiential project helped his retention of the subject matter that he was learning in class. “It has always been difficult for me to remember everything from the textbook and then take exams on it,” he explains. “However, by writing several rounds of interview questions and using the jargon of industry professionals, it became much easier to remember the industry-specific vocabulary. Not only was I able to recall information easier when itcame to the exam, but I can still recall what was taught to me without having to dig through my old notes, which cannot be said for other subjects.”
He says that the biggest change he noticed within himself since starting classes in Barney is his ability to critically think and analyze information provided. Although he has just started the core classes for his major, Krupinski believes that themajority of the classes he has taken have stressed the importance of critical thinking over retention of information. “In a world where all information is at your fingertips, I think that the ability to analyze what is in front of you and come up with your own conclusions is the most powerful skill one can learn,” he concludes.
Barney has designed all of its classes, internships, and professional development experiences to help students land their dream job. Students like Serrano and Krupinski now have real-world experiences that they are confident will give them an advantage over others graduating and entering the workforce.
The new supply chain and logistics management major helps students gain analytical skills in the design, planning, analysis, execution and control of the sourcing, production, and distribution activities of products from point of origin to point of consumption. For any questions on this program, please contact Program Director, David Stec.