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Partnering for Progress:

A partnership between Crowley Maritime Corporation, Tote Maritime, Shoreside Logistics, the Jacksonville Port Authority and UNF's Transportation and Logistics Flagship Program

 

STUDENT SUCCESS THROUGH PARTNERSHIP

Jacksonville Port

Crowley Maritime Corporation, Tote Maritime, Shoreside Logistics, and the Jacksonville Port Authority have been in partnership with UNF’s Transportation and Logistics Flagship Program for more than a decade.  The partnerships provide students with experiential learning opportunities through student-corporate interaction, and emphasizes the value of building professional networks early on in a student’s academic career.


STAKEHOLDERS IN SUCCESS

UNF’s Transportation and Logistics Flagship prides itself on preparing a highly educated and effective workforce where students are ready for challenging careers in supply chain management; including international logistics, transportation, operations management, business analytics, and related customer service.  Lynn Brown, the Associate Director of the T & L Flagship Program, reiterates the importance of the community partnerships by stating, “Our partners are stakeholders in our success.  We know that a quality education prepares a capable work force [that] attracts new business to the region.  Our partners are providing scholarships, internships, mentoring, recruitment, experiential learning, guest lectures, and sponsorships.”


Two students boarding a container shipPIPELINE OF TALENT

The T&L Program partners have grown their businesses and fueled the region’s economic engine all the while allowing students to work their way through college and gain valuable experience.  Lynn Brown again points out, “The partnerships provide opportunities for our students to stay in Jacksonville to pursue their professional careers.  The partners are helping us create a pipeline of talent which helps grow their businesses, [and] leads to outstanding opportunities for employment after graduation, in the region.”  Robert Peek, the Marketing Director at the Jacksonville Port Authority, expresses the importance of the partnership reciprocity through his lens by stating, “One of the things we do with the port is we try to attract new businesses. Port businesses to come to Jacksonville to open up facilities… and the number one question they always ask is about workforce. Does this community have the work force to supply workers if we were to start up a facility in Jacksonville?  We can answer, very confidently, we do - in part, because of the University of North Florida.”


THE FUTUREStudents aboard a Crowley ship

The future looks bright for the T&L Flagship and its partners: Crowley Maritime Corporation; Tote Maritime; Shoreside Logistics; and the Jacksonville Port Authority.  The partners continue to help shape the future workforce through serving on the T&L Dean’s Advisory Council and are actively engaged in curriculum development and research. Partners are also consulted when the T&L Flagship adds programs and courses in order to determine demand and create relevance within content.  There has been discussions about creating more opportunities to engage with faculty to conduct research and publish findings, continue ongoing dialogue to establish mutually beneficial goals and objectives into the future, and invest more time, energy and resources in the T&L Program to cultivate professional talent and develop leaders for the future.

 

 

For more information about UNF's Transportation and Logistics Flagship Program, please visit: http://www.unf.edu/coggin/academics/Transportation_and_Logistics_Program/