The importance of
alumni in the success of The Power of Transformation campaign was illustrated
recently with a software gift to the Logistics Information Technology Solutions
Laboratory in the Coggin College of Business.
The gift, by Manhattan Associates
Inc., an Atlanta-based software development business, makes the UNF logistics
lab one of the best-equipped university labs of its kind in the country.
The connection between UNF and
Manhattan Associates started with UNF alum Keith Goldsmith, a graduate of the
Transportation and Logistics Program in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in
business administration. Goldsmith is senior vice president of business
development for CEVA Logistics, one of the world’s leading logistics companies.
He also serves on both the Coggin College of Business Advisory Council and the
Transportation and Logistics Flagship Program Steering Committee.
Goldsmith made the initial contact
with Manhattan Associations, which ultimately agreed to donate 50 user licenses
of its Warehouse Management Systems software for use in the logistics lab. He
said CEVA and Manhattan Associates have a very close working relationship.
“We simply wanted the next
generation of supply chain leaders to be well-grounded in what is happening in
the industry,” Goldsmith said. “We wanted to put some of these powerful
software tools into the hands of the students themselves.”
Dr. Yemisi Bolumole, director of
the Transportation and Logistics Program, which is one of the University’s four
flagship programs, said Goldsmith played an instrumental role in creating
opportunities that would otherwise not have been possible. “His dedication to
the Transportation and Logistics Program and to Coggin College shows his strong
commitment to his alma mater and to the transportation and logistics industry
as a whole,” she said.
Dr. Robert Frankel, chair of UNF’s
Marketing and Logistics Department, said Manhattan is the largest supplier of
warehouse management solutions software in the world. Fewer than half a dozen
universities in the nation have such similar software programs.
“Most university programs typically
use customized academic simulations to teach,” he said. “Our program will be
utilizing not just off-the-shelf teaching tools but the same programs that are
used by business executives in the supply chain market.”
Bolumole noted that the gift will
enhance the employability of Transportation and Logistics graduates because it
will integrate state-of-the-art technology into the already strong curriculum.
“In fact, such knowledge will put
students ahead of where they would be by interning as they will be more
familiar with logistics IT solutions than many logistics departments and
logistics firms,” she said.
