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
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.”
PIPELINE 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 FUTURE
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/
