News Releases

New School of Business and Army Command College program celebrates its first class of graduates

Major Joe Caldwell

Major Joe Caldwell

Friday, May 8, 2009


Applying business best practices from the civilian sector to the military theater is what the first class of graduates in this unique master's degree program plan to do. Ten U.S. Army officers and one international officer will be the first to graduate from the coordinated program offered by the University of Kansas School of Business and the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

The graduates have earned a Master of Science in Business with a concentration in Supply Chain Management and Logistics through a new program that began in August 2008. The degree is aimed specifically toward Army majors and major-eligible captains. The courses apply business best practices from the civilian sector and relate those to the supply chain management arena and application to U.S. Army theater distribution operations.

School of Business lecturer and program director, retired Colonel Greg Freix, said the degree complements existing military supply chain education and adds the broader civilian business focus. "KU is pleased to give officers the opportunity to expand their future potential with this new specialized graduate degree sponsored by the School of Business. We are glad to see the first class of students complete the program and, from the growing interest, we are expecting a larger class for the next session."

Each of the new graduates has seen combat or peace keeping duties, with service in Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraqi, Kosovo or elsewhere, and several will be returning. Most of them have also earned Bronze Star Medals, in some cases more than one.

Major Nathan Swartz, has had four combat deployments, including Afghanistan and Iraq, earning four Bronze Stars.

Major Matthew McCulley is a U.S. Army engineer officer with more than 12 years of service who was deployed twice to Iraq. "After talking with friends in the civilian sector about the growing importance of supply chain management in the business world, I knew this was the degree that I wanted to pursue."

Major Al Zehnder, Colorado Springs, CO, has 14 years in the Army as a logistics officer.


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