The certificate program consists of three courses: Pre-planning Strategy for Health and Humanitarian Organizations; Tactical Decision Making in Public Health and Humanitarian Response; Systems Operations in Health and Humanitarian Response. It is offered in a 6-day format (2 days per course), which enables individuals traveling from outside of Atlanta the opportunity to earn a certificate in less than a week. The blended delivery format includes pre-course reading assignments, in-class lectures, discussion, interactive games and group work.

Course topics focus on logistics and supply-chain management related to a broad range of activities including preparing, responding to, and recovery from natural and man-made disasters, as well as ongoing humanitarian crises due to war, famine, infectious diseases, and chronic health problems. Participants valued the diverse group of experiences among their classmates and the opportunities to network with and learn from each other as well as the practical applications and group simulation activities which gave them new approaches to challenges in their areas of work.

Amanda Paniagua, Shipments Manager at MedShare International Atlanta headquarters reflected: “The professors were exceptional and incredibly knowledgeable on all things supply chain. I also learned so much just from hearing other students share their experiences from the field in class.” Likewise, Kenny Onasanya, Procurement team lead for Crown Agents in Nigeria, emphasized the “scope of subjects covered, practical case studies in diverse sectors from health, education and other public sector projects.” The “practical and interactive training” also helped practitioners such as Bob Muteeganda, Supply officer at the United Nations Ivory Coast, to “understand the theory behind practices in the industry.” He reflected: “I now feel well prepared to reorient my career to the health and humanitarian supply chain management sector.”

The HHS Center is fortunate to provide a limited number of scholarships for program participants which were made possible through the generosity of The UPS Foundation, Andrea L. Laliberte, Pete Quinones, and Richard E. and Charlene O. Zalesky. This year’s scholarship recipients represented organizations such as Family Health International (FHI 360), Last Mile Health, MSF (Doctors Without Borders), Save the Children, USAID and World Vision in addition to United Nations agencies such as UNICEF, UNHCR and the UN World Food Programme. Other course participants included representatives from national ministries of health in their countries, non-governmental organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, MedShare, and Partners in Health, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The 2015 courses were led by HHS Center Co-Directors, Drs. Özlem Ergun, Pinar Keskinocak and Julie Swann. Guest speakers included Georgia Tech faculty member and supply chain expert Dr. John Bartholdi; Rollins Professor and chair of the Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory University, Dr. Carlos Del Rio; Medical Officer assigned to the Emergency Response and Recovery Branch (ERRB) at the Center for Global Health of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Mark Anderson; and Academic Director of the Master of Advanced Studies in Humanitarian Logistics and Management (MASHLM) at the University of Lugano, Switzerland, Paulo Gonçalves.

For more information about the scholarships or to sponsor students for scholarships in 2016, please visit: http://hhls.scl.gatech.edu. For more information about the courses, visit: http://www.scl.gatech.edu/professional-education/HHL/ or email: hhscenter@isye.gatech.edu.

“With ongoing record-breaking port activity, the deepening of the channel, continued strong growth in global trade, and the widening of the Panama Canal, Savannah is poised for a continued run of strong supply chain and logistics employment growth,” said Tim Brown, managing director of the Supply Chain & Logistics Institute. “Furthermore, with the decommissioning of more than 3,000 military personnel each year, Savannah is well-positioned to provide a solid workforce to meet these needs. The Supply Chain & Logistics Institute is doing its part to prepare the region for continued success by providing a means for the workforce, at all levels, to continually enhance their supply chain and logistics skills.”

In the coming months, the SCL Savannah campus will be offering programming related to sourcing and procurement, international logistics and compliance, and lean logistics, among others. SCL enables supply chain professionals, businesses and governments to transform complex supply chains and trade corridors to improve logistics performance by providing education, innovation and solutions for global and domestic supply chains.

For more information on the upcoming SCL programming offered at the Georgia Tech-Savannah campus, please visit www.scl.gatech.edu.

ABOUT THE SUPPLY CHAIN AND LOGISTICS INSTITUTE:

The Supply Chain and Logistics Institute is a unit of the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. The Stewart School is the largest industrial engineering program in the United States (more than 60 faculty members, 1,500 undergraduate students and 400 graduate students). For 25 consecutive years, U.S. News and World Report has ranked the Stewart School as the best undergraduate and graduate industrial engineering program in the United States.

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION:

Georgia Tech Professional Education is an academic division of the Georgia Institute of Technology, offering professional master's degrees, short courses, and certificate programs to meet the needs of working professionals and industry partners. Programs are available at the Georgia Tech Global Learning Center in Atlanta, the Georgia Tech-Savannah campus, and worldwide through a variety of formats. In addition to professional course offerings, the division manages meeting and event facilities, and administers K-12 outreach and English as a Second Language programs. Last year alone, Georgia Tech Professional Education served individuals representing more than 3,000 companies, with an enrollment of more than 26,000.

Watch the the video via YouTube at http://bit.ly/logisticscertification.

The eight certifications include: Supply Chain Principles, Inventory Control, Warehousing Operations, Transportation Operations, Customer Service Operations, Demand Planning, Procurement, and Manufacturing & Service Operations.

Seven states have been targeted for the initial roll-out of the certifications and an estimated 3,000 jobs will be filled by program participants. Target students for the certification programs include veterans, the long-term unemployed, and individuals impacted by significant industry-specific downsizing and outsourcing.

“Over the years, supply chain management has become more integrated and more complex,” said Tim Brown, SCL’s academic program director who serves as the Georgia Tech principal investigator on the grant. “To meet the ever increasing demands of industry and to stay on top of distinct trends in the field, it is imperative to develop and offer standard professional education in the field.”

Brown was also elected co-chairman of the Academic Advisory Council, serving as the university chair. He will be representing Georgia Tech, Northwestern and Rutgers. The Academic Advisory Council will oversee the development of the curriculum and the content of the eight certifications. 

Georgia Tech’s SCL, the world's largest supply chain and logistics research and education enterprise, was a natural choice for Broward College to team up with as SCL has over sixty years’ experience in addressing industry needs in supply chain management and has at its fingertip a team of Georgia Tech faculty who specialize across the diverse arenas of this field.

“We are excited for the opportunity to serve as a lead on this grant. With our role in helping define the content of each of the eight certificates, SCL hopes to create an alliance across Georgia and beyond to implement the courses,” Brown says.

Brown has met with representatives from the other 11 consortium education partners in a formal kick-off and initial planning conference. The work of the consortium has now begun, and it will continue through 2016. Four certificate programs will be developed over the next few months – with instruction targeted to begin in October 2014. The remaining programs will be completed next year.

The consortium consists of nine colleges who are advised and supported by three universities. The consortium includes: Broward College, Georgia Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, Northwestern University, Columbus State Community College, Essex County College, Florida State College at Jacksonville, Harper College, Long Beach Community College, San Jacinto Community College, St. Petersburg College, and Union County College.

Online content delivery, in addition to traditional in classroom training, is a key component of the program. The intent of this hybrid delivery is to allow students to pursue studies at their own pace while meeting personal work and family commitments. A few dozen corporate partners, including Atlanta’s UPS, are on board to provide input to the consortium regarding key skill needs and high demand roles.

Many employees in the transport sector have medium or low qualification levels, according to the PwC report, and the sector's need for better-educated workers is increasing.

Read the article in its entirety within the Inbound Logistics website.