Today, enrollment in the supply chain management concentration at the CSU College of Business has grown from 153 students in fall 2019 to 226 in fall 2023 – a nearly 50% increase. 

“I think we’re really in the golden era of supply chain with all the focus and attention that we’ve seen in the past few years,” said Paul Vanderspek, a master lecturer in CSU’s Department of Management. “There’s never a shortage of things to talk about in our classes lately, and frankly, with all the focus on the industry in the news, I’ve never seen this level of interest from students.” 

Many of this year’s graduating CSU seniors were in their final semester of high school in spring 2020, when empty grocery shelves and toilet paper shortages propelled the global supply chain into the public lexicon. 

Drew Kitterman, who’s set to graduate from CSU in 2024 with degrees in finance and supply chain management, said the COVID-19 pandemic 100% played a role in his choice of major. 

“The world went into such turmoil the second that supply chains failed,” Kitterman said. “To me, it was important to acknowledge and respect how products get into stores and to your front door, and I like the strategy and challenge associated with making that happen.” 

He’s far from the only student to pursue supply chain management because of the pandemic. 

“Before the pandemic, many of our students came into the College of Business with little or no background in supply chain management,” Vanderspek said. “Now, everyone’s heard of it and certainly knows why it’s so important.” 

Lessons from the pandemic teach resilience 

Vanderspek has been able to provide two perspectives to his supply chain management students: not only as a professor but also as the owner of a sign-making business that experienced its own set of challenges amid unprecedented global shutdowns.  

“We saw lots of disruptions from COVID, and there were certain critical commodities that we were used to getting with just a couple of days’ lead time that suddenly were unavailable for months,” he said. “It forced us to look at our sourcing options and really expand the supply base to acquire the goods we needed.”

He added: “One impact of the pandemic is that it definitely made us a smarter organization, and I think it enriched my teaching a lot in that I could not only talk about what was happening at other companies around the world, but also about my own operation closer to home.”

Lauren Casey, a senior business student with a concentration in supply chain management, said the pandemic has been a focal point of many of her classes since its impact will endure long past when she officially enters the workforce in May. 

“One thing our professors are really teaching us is the importance of planning for events and resilience within the supply chain,” Casey said. “That way, if a larger event like COVID were to happen in the future, hopefully the next generation of industry leaders will be more prepared because we don’t know a time before there was a major disruption.” 

Kitterman agreed. 

“It’s hard to remember a world without supply issues and labor shortages,” he said. 

Supply chain major can lead to fulfilling careers 

CSU students who graduate with degrees in supply chain management often have some of the highest offer rates in the College of Business, with numbers ranging from 85% to even 100%. 

The average supply chain management starting salary is around $62,000 – about $5,000 more than the average across all CSU majors. 

“Based on the recruiting trends we’re seeing from employers in our region, our supply chain students are in demand and have a lot of bright opportunities across a diverse range of industries,” said Andrea Karapas, the director of the Career Management Center in CSU’s College of Business. 

Kitterman said he fell in love with supply chain management because it allows him to see a company’s operations firsthand and look beyond numbers on a spreadsheet. He’s currently working at international meat processor JBS, where he’s had a front-row seat to all of the mechanisms involved with distributing the world’s food. 

“Since supply chain is now seemingly on the forefront of everyone’s mind, there are so many opportunities that have come up and are not going away anytime soon,” he said. “The options are truly limitless, in that supply chain touches so many facets of our lives.” 

Both Kitterman and Casey said that their major has given them a unique perspective into what happens after you click that “same-day delivery” button on Amazon. 

“Every time I pass a truck or train, I think, ‘Where’s that going, what’s that doing, what role is it playing in the supply chain?’” Casey said. “I’ve learned that everything’s a puzzle piece, and what I love about this career is seeing all these pieces working together to create something most people don’t notice until it goes wrong.”